Michael Tilson Thomas is the Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, conductor laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, and cofounder and artistic director laureate of the New World Symphony. He is a 12-time Grammy Award winner and has conducted the major orchestras of Europe and the United States.

Born in Los Angeles, he studied conducting and composition with Ingolf Dahl at the University of Southern California and as a young musician worked with artists including Igor Stravinsky and Aaron Copland. In his mid-20s, he became assistant conductor—and later principal guest conductor—of the Boston Symphony. He subsequently served as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and principal conductor of the London Symphony.

In 1987 he cofounded the New World Symphony, a postgraduate orchestral academy in Miami Beach dedicated to preparing young musicians of diverse backgrounds for leadership roles in classical music. He has worked with more than 1,200 NWS fellows, many of whom have gone on to major musical careers.

MTT became Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony in 1995, ushering in a period of significant growht and heightened international recognition for the orchestra. He led the Symphony in championing contemporary and American composers alongside classical masters, and as Music Director Laureate, he has returned to conduct the orchestra each season. 

His discography includes more than 120 recordings, and his television work includes series for the BBC and PBS, the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts, and numerous televised performances. “Michael Tilson Thomas: Where Now Is” aired on PBS’s American Masters series in fall 2020.

Throughout his career, he has been an active composer, with major works including From the Diary of Anne Frank, premiered with narrator Audrey Hepburn, and Meditations on Rilke. Both appear on SFS Media’s Grammy Award-winning recording of his music. In 2023, Yuja Wang released a recording on Deutsche Grammophon which included his You Come Here Often?
He is an Officier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France, a member of the American Academies of Arts and Sciences and Arts and Letters, a National Medal of Arts recipient, and a 2019 Kennedy Center honoree.

Three major recording projects were released in 2024 in celebration of his 80th birthday: Grace: The Music of Michael Tilson Thomas on Pentatone; The Complete Columbia, CBS, and RCA Recordings on Sony Classical; and Complete Deutsche Grammophon & Argo Recordings on DG Eloquence. 

Jean-Yves Thibaudet has earned a reputation as one of the world’s finest pianists. He is especially known for his diverse interests beyond the classical world—in addition to his many forays into jazz and opera, he has collaborated with film, fashion, and visual art. He is a devoted educator and the first-ever artist in residence at the Colburn School, which awards several scholarships in his name.

This season, Thibaudet performs with the Boston Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, National Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Seatle Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Royal Philharmonic Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Orchestra Zurich, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, NDR Elbphilharmonie, Munich Philharmonic, Shanghai Symphony, National Symphony of Taiwan, and Macao Orchestra.

Thibaudet has appeared on more than 70 albums and six film scores; his extensive catalogue has received two Grammy nominations, two Echo Awards, the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, the Diapason d’Or, the Choc du Monde de la Musique, the Edison Prize, and Gramophone awards. Recent recordings include Gershwin Rhapsody with Michael Feinstein; Night After Night, a celebration of James Newton Howard’s scores for the films of M. Night Shyamalan; and Carte Blanche, a collection of deeply personal solo piano pieces.

He was soloist on Aaron Zigman’s score for Wakefield, Dario Marianelli’s scores for the films Atonement (which won an Oscar for Best Original Score) and Pride and Prejudice, as well as Alexandre Desplat’s soundtracks for Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close and Wes Anderson’s The French Dispatch. He had a cameo in Bruce Beresford’s film on Alma Mahler, Bride of the Wind, and his playing is showcased throughout.

Thibaudet was born in Lyon, where he began his piano studies at age five, and entered the Paris Conservatory at 12. He made his San Francisco Symphony debut in 1994, and last year soloed in a multisensory performance of Scriabin’s Prometheus in collaboration with Esa-Pekka Salonen and Cartier. Among his awards are the Victoire d’Honneur, induction into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame, and being named an Officier by the French Ministry of Culture.