Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer who hails from the Thomashefsky family with ancestors who were cantors and performers in the Yiddish Theater District in New York. His own works include 'From the Diary of Anne Frank' (1990), 'Shówa/Shoáh' (1995), 'Poems of Emily Dickinson' (2002) and 'Urban Legend' (2002). He is noted for conducting the works of Gustav Mahler along with composers such as Aaron Copland, Charles Ives and Steve Reich. He was music director of California's Ojai Music Festival several times over the period from 1968 to 1994 and has led the Boston Symphony, Buffalo Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, New World Symphony, London Symphony and YouTube Symphony Orchestra. He hosts a television series on America's PBS station titled 'Keeping Score' which features composer documentaries and concerts.

His many recordings cover the works of the classics plus artists such as John Cage, George Gershwin and Elvis Costello. He has had 30 releases on Billboard's Classical Albums Chart as well as eleven top ten hits including 'Il Sogno' (2004) conducting the London Symphony Orchestra with Elvis Costello and 'West Side Story' (2014) conducting San Francisco Symphony with soprano Alexander Silber and singer Cheyenne Jackson, both of which went to number two on the chart. He has received 34 Grammy Award nominations with eleven wins for albums including his recordings of Mahler, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Orff and Gershwin. His 2018 schedule included performances with New World Symphony Orchestra in Miami Beach, London Symphony Orchestra, Met Orchestra in New York, San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Boston Symphony Orchestra at Tanglewood.