“Michael Tilson Thomas will step down as music director of the San Francisco Symphony at the end of the 2019-20 season, marking the end of the longest and arguably most significant chapter in the orchestra’s 106-year history,” writes Joshua Kosman in Tuesday’s (10/31) San Francisco Chronicle. “Since taking up the position of music director in 1995, Thomas has overseen a remarkable transformation…. The move … is scheduled to coincide with both the end of Thomas’ 25th season at the organization’s helm and his 75th birthday in December 2019. He will remain with the Symphony in the newly created post of music director laureate…. Thomas has expanded the Symphony’s repertoire to include a new emphasis on music by American and contemporary composers. He has brought the Symphony to a wider global audience through an ambitious regimen of touring and broadcasting. He has championed the cause of music education and outreach … and created a lasting recorded legacy…. Thomas has put his stamp on the orchestra’s performing style, taking an ensemble whose technical prowess had been heightened by his predecessor, Herbert Blomstedt, and infusing it with a spirit of spontaneity and expressive freedom.”
Posted November 1, 2017
Michael Tilson Thomas photo by Art Streiber
