Michael Tilson Thomas with the New World Symphony, 3/29/25

Photo: Alex Markow

"A 'coda' is a musical element at the end of a composition that brings the whole piece to a conclusion...My life’s coda is generous and rich." - Michael Tilson Thomas

MIAMI BEACH, FL - It feels like a big deal when a well-known musician announces their retirement. In rock, a band will often put on a farewell tour, culminating in a final concert that is more often than not captured for posterity. In opera, a star singer's departure is usually met with deep mourning and accelerated ticket prices. Same goes for popular singers such as Johnny Mathis, who just announced he'll be playing his final show next month out in Englewood, NJ. 

In orchestral music, where conductors tend to persist well into their 80's and beyond, the end isn't usually revealed in advance. When Leonard Bernstein conducted what turned out to be his final concert at Tanglewood in 1990, he hadn't yet announced his retirement, despite his obvious poor health. Only the ominous thunderstorms that day - almost unheard of when Lenny was at Tanglewood - offered any indication that this might be his last appearance. 

In the case of Bernstein's one-time mentee, Michael Tilson Thomas, we've known for some time that his conducting days were numbered, having been diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer back in 2022. For awhile, it seemed as if MTT would defy the dire odds, continuing to conduct orchestras across the U.S. and Europe with poise and finesse, including this season's opening night with the NY Phil where he seemed, "alert and ardent, even hopping a few inches into the air at one full-hearted moment" (NY Times). I last saw him conduct Beethoven's 9th at Tanglewood in 2022, and he seemed fully engaged, if perhaps a bit less energetic than in the past.

Then, in February, MTT published a note revealing that the brain tumor had returned and thus would be winding down his public appearances. But, not before honoring two final engagements with the orchestras that mean the most to him. On April 26, he'll lead his own 80th birthday concert in his adopted home of San Francisco with the SF Symphony and Chorus and a host of big-name singers.

As festive as I'm sure that event will be, I was more interested in Michael's concerts this past weekend with the New World Symphony, the post-conservatory orchestra he co-founded in Miami Beach in 1987 and led for 35 years, right up until his diagnosis. I got to spend several days with MTT and the talented New World fellows back in 2018, and came away deeply impressed not just by the high level of musicianship, but by the direct influence MTT has had on almost all aspects of New World's operations: from the curriculum, to the high-tech classrooms with remote learning capabilities, to the Frank Gehry-designed New World Center and its "Michael Tilson Thomas Performance Hall." Indeed, it's difficult to imagine a New World Symphony without him.

Pierre Boulez with the Chicago Symphony, Carnegie Hall, March 2009

"When he first entered class, (Boulez) was very nice. But soon he became angry with the whole world. He thought everything was wrong with music...He was like a lion that had been flayed alive, he was terrible!" - Olivier Messiaen, 1944

Today would have been Pierre Boulez' 100th birthday, which I've been reminded of by more than a few panegyric posters today on social media. I do wonder how many of these admirers have spent serious time with Boulez' thorny, challenging music, or attended one of the countless concerts he conducted here in New York, either as music director of the NY Phil (1971-77) or as a guest conductor with a range of orchestras at Carnegie Hall. (The Phil has posted a selection of archival material on Google, in lieu of programming any of Boulez' actual music this season.)

Having heard Boulez' music and seen him conduct a few times in the twilight of his career, my impression was that he was a formidable, unsentimental character who always seemed to get exactly what he wanted, with the greatest economy of means. Which is more than can be said of most of today's podium dancers.

From the archives:

• Boulez at Messiaen Discovery Concert, Weill Recital Hall, 2008
• Vienna Philharmonic performing  Notations I-IV, and VII, Carnegie Hall, 2010
• NY Phil performing Rituel in memoriam Bruno Maderna, Park Avenue Armory, 2012
• Boulez conducting the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Carnegie Hall, 2009

Michael Tilson Thomas and the New World Symphony, April 2018

"Life is precious.” - Michael Tilson Thomas

When I visited Miami's New World Symphony back in 2018, I had the chance to ask NWS co-founder Michael Tilson Thomas, who had recently announced his departure as Music Director in San Francisco, if he'd ever imagined a New World without him.

“Well, it's not really something I can control," Thomas said. "But, there are many musicians and alumni who have come here repeatedly as coaches who could easily carry on. In that sense, the continuity is already there."

MTT stepped down from New World in 2022, not long after he was diagnosed with glioblastoma, a lethal form of brain cancer. (He was succeeded by Stéphane Denève the following year.) Despite a grim prognosis - most patients die in less than a year - Thomas has continued to guest conduct orchestras across Europe and the U.S., including this season's opening night with the NY Phil. All indications were that the cancer was in check, and that if anything, the act of conducting has been its own form of therapy.

"It feels really great," Thomas said after conducting the BSO at Tanglewood in 2022. "It feels restorative.”

But, last month, Thomas revealed to the world that the tumor had returned, and would be canceling all of his future engagements in order to focus on his health. With two exceptions: a long-planned 80th birthday concert in San Francisco on April 26, featuring the SF Symphony and Chorus. And a pair of concerts this weekend in Miami Beach, where he'll conduct the New World fellows one final time in Beethoven's mighty 5th symphony. (Alasdair Neale will handle Mozart's Don Giovanni overture and Piano Concerto No. 14, with Jeremy Denk.) A fitting end to a long and generous musical career.

I'll be in Miami Beach for what I'm sure will be an experience filled with the widest range of emotion; there are still a few tickets left for Sunday's matinee if you plan on joining.