Remembering Michael Tilson Thomas | Chicago Symphony Orchestra

Remembering Michael Tilson Thomas | Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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Remembering Michael Tilson Thomas
April 23, 2026
Frank Villella
15 min
read
Michael Tilson Thomas
Chris Wahlberg
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the loss of American conductor, pianist and composer
Michael Tilson Thomas
. He enjoyed a remarkable partnership with the Orchestra and Chorus, appearing on the podium — in Orchestra Hall, at the Ravinia Festival, in Milwaukee and on tour to Australia — over the course of more than 50 years. Tilson Thomas died in San Francisco on April 22, 2026, at the age of 81 following a long illness.
For Tilson Thomas’ Orchestra Hall debut with the CSO in May 1981, John von Rhein in the
Chicago Tribune
wrote, "Normally, the presence of Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Charles Ives on a Chicago Symphony program would inspire a rush of ticket returns, but not on Thursday night. . . . Thomas’ interesting program achieved a welcome balance of the brainy and the accessible, the unusual and the familiar. . . . Thomas, who once was assistant to
Pierre Boulez
, retains some of that conductor’s ability to clarify line, texture and nuance without sacrificing a sensuous wash of vivid atmosphere."
Prior to his November and December 2023 performances with the Orchestra,
he reflected
on his many decades leading the ensemble. “I very much love making music with the Chicago Symphony,” he said. “I always have. I find it a revitalizing experience. . . . I, of course, love the huge energy with which they approach everything, but I’m also a big fan of their great subtlety. . . . There’s no limit to how quickly and expertly and movingly they will take the music on; it’s incredible rapidity. I think that’s remarkable.”
For those final appearances, Tilson Thomas closed the program with Schoenberg’s arrangement of Brahms’ G minor piano quartet. “All night, one half-expected Tilson Thomas, among the most charismatic musical explainers since Bernstein, to address the audience, or somehow acknowledge the weight of this moment in ways only the torrents of applause dared to,” wrote Hannah Edgar in the
Chicago Tribune.
"But in the silence before the Brahms-Schoenberg, Tilson Thomas looked out over the orchestra for what felt like minutes, as though taking stock of each face. Later, lifting his baton for the third movement, he did something unusual: he spoke to the orchestra. ’Enjoy,’ he told them. ’Take it easy.’”
Michael Tilson Thomas and Sir Georg Solti in Perth, Australia, in March 1988
Jim Steere
IVES Symphonies Nos. 1 and 4
Sony (1989)
Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in December 2018
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Michael Tilson Thomas leads the CSO in December 2018
Todd Rosenberg Photography
IVES Holidays Symphony, The Unanswered Question, Central Park in the Dark
Sony (1986)
Michael Tilson Thomas and Sir Patrick Stewart backstage before a performance of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in February 2010
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Michael Tilson Thomas and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus onstage following a performance of Stravinsky's Oedipus Rex in February 2010
Todd Rosenberg Photography
Michael Tilson Thomas and CSOA President Jeff Alexander at the Union League Club of Chicago on November 29, 2023
Todd Rosenberg Photography
A complete list of Michael Tilson Thomas’ appearances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus is below.
July 12, 1970, Ravinia Festival
J.C. BACH Sinfonia for Double Orchestra in E-flat Major
HAYDN Symphony No. 60 in C Major
VARÈSE
Intégrales
STRAVINSKY Suite from
Pulcinella
August 1, 1970, Ravinia Festival
BACH Suite No. 4 in D Major, BWV 1069
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488
John Browning, piano
RUGGLES
Sun-Treader
WAGNER Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March, and Brünnhilde’s Immolation from
Götterdämmerung
May 21, 22, and 24, 1981, Orchestra Hall
BACH/Schoenberg Chorale Preludes (
Schmücke dich, O liebe Seele
and
Komm,
and
Gott Schöpfer, heiliger Geist
IVES Symphony No. 2
STRAVINSKY
The Firebird
July 22, 1982, Ravinia Festival
HAYDN Symphony No. 81 in G Major
BRUCH Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 26
Shlomo Mintz, violin
STRAVINSKY Symphony in Three Movements
RAVEL
La valse
July 24, 1982, Ravinia Festival
BERLIOZ Overture to
Benvenuto Cellini
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
Emanuel Ax
, piano
STRAUSS
Also sprach Zarathustra,
Op. 30
August 7, 1983, Ravinia Festival
GERSHWIN
An American in Paris
GERSHWIN Summertime; It Ain’t Necessarily So; and I Loves You, Porgy from
Porgy and Bess
GERSHWIN Sweet and Low-Down
GERSHWIN Medley: But Not for Me, Love is Here to Stay, Embraceable You, and Someone to Watch over Me
GERSHWIN Fascinatin’ Rhythm
GERSHWIN Second Rhapsody for Orchestra with Piano
Miichael Tilson Thomas, piano
GERSHWIN My Man’s Gone Now from
Porgy and Bess
GERSHWIN The Man I Love
GERSHWIN Do It Again!
GERSHWIN Medley: Nice Work If You Can Get It, They Can’t Take That Away from Me, ‘S Wonderful, Swanee, Strike Up the Band
Sarah Vaughan, vocal
George Gaffney, piano
Andy Simpkins, bass
Harold Jones, drums
August 11, 1983, Ravinia Festival
JANÁČEK Suite from
The Cunning Little Vixen
DEBUSSY
La mer
TCHAIKOVSKY Piano Concerto No. 1 in B-flat Minor, Op. 23
Misha Dichter, piano
August 13, 1983, Ravinia Festival
BRAHMS
Academic Festival
Overture, Op. 80
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61
Henryk Szeryng, violin
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
November 10, 11, and 12, 1983, Orchestra Hall
STRAVINSKY Symphonies of Wind Instruments
STRAVINSKY
Apollon musagète
TCHAIKOVSKY
Manfred,
Op. 58
November 17, 18, and 19, 1983, Orchestra Hall
November 21, 1983, Uihlein Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
IVES Symphony No. 3
(The Camp Meeting)
GERSHWIN/Tilson Thomas Nocturne for Lily Pons
Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
VARÈSE
Arcana
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
Misha Dichter, piano
August 9, 1984, Ravinia Festival
GLINKA Overture to
Ruslan and Ludmila
RACHMANINOV Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor, Op. 30
Yefim Bronfman
, piano
STRAVINSKY
The Firebird
August 11, 1984, Ravinia Festival
DEBUSSY Incidental Music for
King Lear
DEBUSSY First Rhapsody for Clarinet and Orchestra
Larry Combs, clarinet
TCHAIKOVSKY
Romeo and Juliet
DVOŘÁK Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104
Yo-Yo Ma
, cello
June 13, 14, and 15, 1985, Orchestra Hall
GRAINGER Arrival Platform Humlet from
In a Nutshell
GRIFFES
Clouds
CHABRIER
Joyeuse marche
DEL TREDICI
March to Tonality
GERSHWIN Second Rhapsody for Orchestra with Piano
Michael Tilson Thomas, piano
DELIUS
On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring
RESPIGHI
Feste romane
SOUSA
New Mexico
March
August 8, 1985, Ravinia Festival
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Four Pieces from
Mlada
RACHMANINOV Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Misha Dichter, piano
STRAVINSKY
The Rite of Spring
August 10, 1985, Ravinia Festival
BEETHOVEN
Leonore
Overture No. 3, Op. 72
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Alicia de Larrocha
, piano
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36
August 15, 1985, Ravinia Festival
IVES Thanksgiving and Forefathers’ Day from
Holidays
Symphony
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis
, director
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor
(Resurrection)
Marvis Martin, soprano
Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
August 17, 1985, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Symphony No. 34 in C Major, K. 338
MOZART Violin Concerto No. 5 in A Major, K. 219
Cho-Liang Lin, violin
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
May 1, 2, and 3, 1986, Orchestra Hall
May 5, 1986, Uihlein Hall, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
IVES
The Unanswered Question
Adolph Herseth
, trumpet
IVES
Central Park in the Dark
MOZART Concerto for Violin No. 5 in A Major, K. 219
Young Uck Kim, violin
TCHAIKOVSKY Suite No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 43
Ives’
The Unanswered Question
(the original and revised versions) and
Central Park in the Dark
were recorded in Medinah Temple on May 10 and 12, 1986. For CBS Bud Graham was the recording engineer and Graham and Tim Geelan were the post-production engineers.
May 8, 9, and 10, 1986, Orchestra Hall
IVES Symphony:
New England Holidays
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
BARTÓK Three Village Scenes
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
SCHUMANN Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 97
(Rhenish)
Ives’
New England Holidays
Symphony was recorded in Medinah Temple on May 10 and 12, 1986. For CBS Bud Graham was the recording engineer and Graham and Tim Geelan were the post-production engineers.
July 24, 1986, Ravinia Festival
COPLAND
Billy the Kid,
Suite from the Ballet
SCHUBERT/Liszt Fantasy in C Major, D. 760
(The Wanderer)
Illana Vered, piano
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
July 26, 1986, Ravinia Festival
BERLIOZ Overture to
Benveunto Cellini
MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64
Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, violin
BERLIOZ
Symphonie fantastique,
Op. 14a
February 19, 20, 22, and 24, 1987, Orchestra Hall
BRAHMS
Tragic
Overture, Op. 81
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 6 in D Minor, Op. 104
BRAHMS/Schoenberg Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
February 26, 27, and 28, 1987, Orchestra Hall
WAGNER Prelude to Act 3 of
Lohengrin
WUORINEN Piano Concerto No. 3
Garrick Ohlsson, piano
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
December 3, 4, and 6, 1987, Orchestra Hall
REICHA
Musique pour célébrer la memoire des grands hommes de la République francaise
HAYDN
The Storm
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
JANÁČEK
Glagolitic
Mass
Linda Kelm, soprano
Dolora Zajic, mezzo-soprano
Gary Lakes, tenor
Kevin Langan, bass
Thomas Weisflog, organ
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
February 18, 19, 20, and 23, 1988, Orchestra Hall
BEETHOVEN
Leonore
Overture No. 3, Op. 72
IVES Symphony No. 3
(The Camp Meeting)
RACHMANINOV Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27
March 5, 1988, Perth Concert Hall, Perth, Australia
March 10, 1988, Adelaide Festival Center, Adelaide, Australia
March 15, 1988, Melbourne Concert Hall, Melbourne, Australia
March 18, 1988, Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia
BEETHOVEN
Leonore
Overture No. 3, Op. 72b
IVES Symphony No. 3
(The Camp Meeting)
RACHMANINOV Symphony No. 2 in E Minor, Op. 27
April 6, 7, 8, and 11, 1989, Orchestra Hall
HAYDN Symphony No. 81 in G Major
HAYDN Horn Concerto in D Major, Hob. VIId:3
Dale Clevenger
, horn
IVES Symphony No. 1
Ives’
Symphony no. 1 was recorded in Medinah Temple on April 15 and 17, 1989. For Sony Stephen Epstein was the producer, Bud Graham was the recording engineer and Graham and Kevin P. Boutote were the post-production engineers.
April 13, 14, 16, and 18, 1989, Orchestra Hall
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83
Emanuel Ax, piano
American Hymns:
Nearer, My God, to Thee; From Greenland’s Icy Mountains; Ye Christian Heralds; Jesus, Lover of My Soul;
and
Sweet By and By
Richard Webster, organ
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
IVES Symphony No. 4
Mary Sauer
, piano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
The American hymns and Ives’
Symphony no. 4 were recorded in Medinah Temple on April 15 and 17, 1989. For Sony Stephen Epstein was the producer, Bud Graham was the recording engineer and Graham and Kevin P. Boutote were the post-production engineers.
Michael Tilson Thomas leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Orchestra Hall on November 30, 2023
Nuccio DiNuzzo Photography
March 31, April 1, 2, and 5, 1994, Orchestra Hall
J.C. BACH Symphony for Double Orchestra in E-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 1
REICH Three Movements
Patricia Dash
Albert Payson
James Ross
, and Michael Green, percussion
MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major
April 7, 8, and 9, 1994, Orchestra Hall
BERNSTEIN Imaginary Coney Island Scene from
On the Town
BERNSTEIN
Chichester Psalms
Ryan Cox, boy soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Cheryl Frazes Hill
, director
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74
(Pathétique)
March 16, 17, and 18, 2006, Orchestra Hall
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor
(Resurrection)
Celena Shafer, soprano
Lorraine Hunt Lieberson
, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe
, director
May 29, 30, and 31, 2008, Orchestra Hall
DVOŘÁK Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88
OLIVER
Federal Street
(Great God, we sing that mighty hand)
HATTON
Duke Street
(God, beneath thy guiding hand)
ROOT
The Shining Shore
TRADITIONAL
Good Night, Ladies
BISHOP
Home, Sweet Home
IVES Symphony:
New England Holidays
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
October 2, 3, and 4, 2008, Orchestra Hall
TILSON THOMAS
Street Song
for Symphonic Brass
Daniel Gingrich
David Griffin
Oto Carrillo
Susanna Drake
, and Alice Render, horns
Christopher Martin,
Mark Ridenour
John Hagstrom
, and David Gauger, trumpets
Jay Friedman
Michael Mulcahy
, and
Charles Vernon
, trombones
Gene Pokorny
, tuba
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 4 in A Minor, Op. 63
SHOSTAKOVICH Symphony No. 5 in D Minor, Op. 47
February 11, 12, and 13, 2010, Orchestra Hall
CRAWFORD SEEGER Andante for Strings
BERG Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6
BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 15
Yefim Bronfman, piano
February 18, 19, 20, and 21, 2010, Orchestra Hall
STRAVINSKY Ode
STRAVINSKY
Apollon musagète
STRAVINSKY
Oedipus Rex
Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano
William Burden, tenor
Ryan McKinny, bass-baritone
Stanford Olsen, tenor
Sir Patrick Stewart, narrator
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
November 4, 5, and 6, 2010, Orchestra Hall
COPLAND
Quiet City
Scott Hostetler
, english horn
Christopher Martin, trumpet
COPLAND Symphony for Organ and Orchestra
Paul Jacobs
, organ
COPLAND Orchestral Variations
COPLAND
Appalachian Spring
December 8, 9, and 10, 2011, Orchestra Hall
MAHLER
Blumine
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 37
Jeremy Denk, piano
BRAHMS/Schoenberg Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
November 21, 22, 23, and 24, 2013, Orchestra Hall
STRAVINSKY
Elegy for J.F.K.
Kelley O’Connor, mezzo-soprano
John Bruce Yeh
Gregory Smith
, and
J. Lawrie Bloom
, clarinets
MAHLER Symphony No. 9
March 17, 18, and 19, 2016, Orchestra Hall
STRAVINSKY
Scherzo à la Russe
BEETHOVEN Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Major, Op. 58
Emanuel Ax, piano
SIBELIUS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 43
December 15, 16, 17, and 18, 2016, Orchestra Hall
STRAVINSKY
Scènes de ballet
SAINT-SAËNS Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33
Guatier Capuçon
, cello
PROKOFIEV Suite from
Romeo and Juliet
December 13, 14, and 15, 2018, Orchestra Hall
STRAVINSKY Concerto in D for String Orchestra
PROKOFIEV Violin Concerto No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63
Nicola Benedetti, violin
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74
(Pathétique)
November 30, December 1, 2, and 5, 2023, Orchestra Hall
MOZART Six German Dances, K. 509
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488
Orion Weiss
, piano
BRAHMS/Schoenberg Piano Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 25
Tilson Thomas was preceded in death by his husband and partner of nearly 50 years,
Joshua Robison
. Numerous tributes have appeared online, including the
New York Times
San Francisco Chronicle
and
San Francisco Standard
among numerous others.
This article also appears
here
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Frank Villella
Frank Villella
is the director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association's Rosenthal Archives.
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