‘It’s a wrap’: Michael Tilson Thomas scales down concerts with NWS as brain cancer returns

Michael Tilson Thomas, co-founder and artistic director for 34 years of New World Symphony will return to conduct Beethoven’s “Symphony No. 5” on Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29 at the New World Center. (Photo by Vahan Stepanyan/courtesy of New World Symphony)

Michael Tilson Thomas was to have conducted two weekends of final performances with the New World Symphony on Saturday, March 28 and Sunday, March 29 as well as Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6.

But on Monday, the organization announced that the co-founder and its artistic director for 34 years (now artistic director laureate) will not be conducting in the second weekend of concerts.

In 2021, MTT as he is known, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer and, in 2022, stepped down as artistic director of the New World Symphony.

In a letter from February 2025, Thomas provided an update to his health. “Dear Friends. Three years ago I wrote to tell you that I’m battling Glioblastoma. The three and a half years since the initial diagnosis have been a special time in my life . . .” He went on to say that his doctors informed him that his brain tumor had returned and that he intended to lead his final performance with the San Francisco Symphony to celebrate his 80th birthday on Saturday, April 26.

“At that point, we all get to say the old show business expression, ‘It’s a wrap.’ ”

When the 2024-25 season was announced, MTT was to have returned to Miami to conduct a program of Schubert, Schumann and two Beethoven works for the March concerts, then another full program of works by Haydn, Alban Berg and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 6 in April.

According to New World Symphony, the concerts on Saturday, April 5 and Sunday, April 6, will “still proceed as planned.  Alasdair Neale will conduct Beethoven’s Sixth Symphony, and the performances will be in honor of MTT’s contributions throughout his six-decade career.

It is a full-circle moment for this weekend’s concerts as Thomas will conduct the orchestra in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5, the work he led at the very first NWS concert in February of 1988 at the Olympia Theater at Gusman Center, in downtown Miami.

Michael Tilson Thomas stepped down as artistic director in 2022 after announcing he had undergone treatment for glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of brain cancer. (Photo courtesy of New World Symphony)

In 1987, Thomas partnered with Ted and Lin Arison to open a training orchestra for young musicians in Miami Beach that would be known as the New World Symphony. In 1988, it launched an inaugural season, performing in venues across Miami. Then, in 1989, the NWS purchased the Lincoln Theatre, began a nearly $1 million restoration, and made 541 Lincoln Road its home.

In 2008, Thomas began working with architect Frank Gehry, whom he had known for decades,  to design the state-of-the-art New World Center in Miami Beach. Thomas’ website says that Gehry was once MTT’s babysitter while he was growing up in Los Angeles. The New World Center opened in 2011.

According to Howard Herring, president and chief executive officer of the New World Symphony, 1,300 program alumni have gone on to major orchestras in the United States, Europe, South America, and Asia. Eighty-seven Fellows make up the 2024-25 class at the postgraduate orchestral academy across 17 instruments and three non-instrumental positions. Applications for the 2026-27 academic season open in October of 2025.

“This weekend marks a significant moment in Miami’s cultural history as Michael Tilson Thomas (MTT) takes the podium for his final concerts with the New World Symphony,” Herring wrote in a letter to Artburstmiami.com. “For more than three decades, MTT has shaped not only this remarkable institution but also the artistic landscape of our city. His vision, mentorship, and boundless energy have nurtured generations of musicians, bringing world-class performances and innovative programming to our community. . . . MTT is retiring from the stage, but his influence will remain strong. As we celebrate his extraordinary legacy, we also recognize the profound impact he has had on music education and accessibility. The New World Symphony’s pioneering WALLCAST® concerts and digital initiatives reflect his belief that great music should be shared with everyone.”

Hermann stated that the Saturday, March 29 concert, which will be broadcast in SoundScape Park free to the public as always, will be a “WALLCAST® moment when MTT leads one of his final performances.” The concert, for those who won’t attend in person, will also be livestreamed on NWS Inside (nws.edu/inside)

Stéphane Denève was named only the second artistic director in the history of the New World Symphony in 2022 after Thomas stepped down.

Thomas is also Music Director Laureate of the San Francisco Symphony, Conductor Laureate of the London Symphony Orchestra, and Distinguished Professor of Music at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

Michael Tilson Thomas conducting the New World Symphony during a visit in the 2023-2024 season. (Photo by Alex Markow/courtesy of the New World Symphony)

Tilson married his partner Joshua Robison in 2014 in San Francisco at the home of a former San Francisco Symphony board member as he was marking his 20th anniversary year as maestro of the San Francisco Symphony.

Now, he writes in the February letter: “Joshua and I are in San Francisco with the pups, and we take occasional jaunts to Bolinas. Our home is filled with memories of a full life.”

He closes with an explanation of the meaning of the musical term “coda,” the end of a piece of music that brings the composition to an end.

“A coda can vary greatly in length,” writes Thomas. “My life’s coda is generous and rich. Life is precious.”

The upcoming weekend program will feature Neale conducting Mozart’s “Overture to Don Giovanni” and the composer’s Concerto No. 14 in E-flat major for Piano and Orchestra, K. 449. Following an intermission, Tilson Thomas will conduct Beethoven’s 31-minute Symphony No. 5 in C. minor, Op. 67.

WHAT: New World Symphony Presents “Beethoven 5: MTT’s Final NWS Performances

WHERE: The New World Center, 500 17th St., Miami Beach

WHEN: 8 p.m., Saturday, March 29 and 2 p.m., Sunday, March 30; Also, 8 p.m., Wallcast concert, SoundScape Park at New World Center 

COST: Limited tickets available; most seats sold out. $240. Wallcast outdoor concert screening free.

INFORMATION: 305-673-3330 and www.nws.edu/events-tickets/

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