SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) — Celebrated conductor and San Francisco Symphony Music Director Laureate introduced he’ll retire from performing following the return of a mind tumor he is been battling. In an announcement posted to his web site, Tilson Thomas mentioned he had undergone a second operation to handle problems from treating the tumor.
“Three years ago, I wrote to tell you that I’m battling Glioblastoma,” Tilson Thomas mentioned. “The three and a half years since the initial diagnosis have been a special time in my life, filled with friends, family and music. They have also been challenging.”
Tilson Thomas’ medical doctors, he went on to say, had knowledgeable him that the tumor has returned. Whereas the conductor mentioned he would proceed to work with the “superb group” on the UCSF Mind Tumor Middle, he admitted that “the odds are uncertain.”
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“Now is the time to wind down my public appearances,” he mentioned. “During the past year, I had the opportunity to come full circle with musicians and orchestras I hold most dear,” he mentioned. “My work with the London Symphony Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic was very special.”
The conductor mentioned he has concert events deliberate for March with the New World Symphony after which, on April 26, one last live performance with the SF Symphony in celebration of his eightieth birthday.
“At that point,” he continued, “we all get to say the old show business expression, ‘it’s a wrap.'”
“A ‘coda’ is a musical element at the end of a composition that brings the whole piece to a conclusion,” he added. “A coda can vary greatly in length. My life’s coda is generous and rich.”
“Life is precious,” the assertion concluded.
Born in Los Angeles, Tilson Thomas was first appointed Music Director of the San Francisco Symphony in 1995.
