‘Life is precious.’ New World Symphony artistic director steps down due to health concerns

Michael Tilson Thomas, the co-founder of Miami Beach’s prestigious New World Symphony, will step down from his 34-year tenure as artistic director to focus on his health, the symphony announced Wednesday. Tilson Thomas, a world-renowned conductor, had undergone treatment for glioblastoma multiforme, an aggressive form of brain cancer.

“It takes strength to meet the demands of the music and to collaborate on the highest level with the remarkable musicians who so generously welcomed me,” Tilson Thomas wrote in a letter announcing his decision. “I now see that it is time for me to consider what level of work and responsibilities I can sustain in the future.”

Tilson Thomas plans to conduct performances across the United States and Europe and will assume the less strenuous role of artistic director laureate in June. Last August, he withdrew from several concerts after undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor. He returned to performing in November, which he described as “coming back to life.”

Though the cancer is currently “in check” after surgery and chemotherapy, Tilson Thomas acknowledged that the future is uncertain. “Its recurrence is, unfortunately, the rule rather than the exception,” he wrote.

‘A tremendous impact’

Tilson Thomas, regarded by his peers and colleagues as a “Renaissance person,” is considered to be one of the greatest living conductors in the world.

His prolific career and achievements include curating and conducting at Carnegie Hall, winning 12 Grammy awards, receiving the National Medal of Arts, being inducted into the California Hall of Fame and receiving Kennedy Center Honors. In 2020, he stepped down from his position as music director at the San Francisco Symphony, where he was credited with elevating the ensemble to be one of the best in the country, according to The New York Times.

But for Victoria Rogers, the Knight Foundation vice president of arts and a former member of the New World Symphony staff, Tilson Thomas’ legacy is defined by the national training orchestra’s 1,200 alumni and their music careers.

“What a tremendous impact he has had on the way that classical music is created and taught and experienced,” Rogers said. “His legacy are these young men and women over the years who will take what they’ve learned and implement it in really new and interesting ways.”

Rogers met Tilson Thomas 17 years ago while she was working at the New World Symphony and plans for the architecturally noted New World Center were beginning to take shape.

A vision for music education

The New World Symphony has come a long way since its humble beginnings on Lincoln Road.

Tilson Thomas had mentioned the idea of a “real institutional home” for young musicians in interviews, which piqued the interest of Ted Arison, founder of Carnival cruise lines. Arison and his wife, Lin, arranged a meeting with Tilson Thomas because of their common interest: supporting up-and-coming artists. The Arisons had already established YoungArts, a program that supports young artists in multiple disciplines from around the country, in 1981.

With the Arisons’ support, Tilson Thomas co-founded the New World Symphony, an ensemble and intensive three-year fellowship program for music school graduates to hone their craft.

Howard Herring, the New World Symphony president and CEO, said he joined Tilson Thomas 21 years ago because of his vision for music education. The symphony is a “fertile middle ground” for young musicians to find their voice and become leaders in their own right, Herring said.

While stationed in the Lincoln Theatre, the symphony played a role in the revival of Lincoln Road in the late ‘80s and early ‘90s. Tilson Thomas recognized the importance of sharing music with the community, Herring said. Small televisions and speakers above the building’s entrance broadcast the music playing inside the theater to the outside world.

“Michael imagined the institution, he imagined the neighborhood, he imagined sharing with as many people as possible,” Herring said.

The symphony soon outgrew its home in the Lincoln Theatre. In Tilson Thomas’ view, it was time for something new, innovative and exciting.

A new home

Tilson Thomas enlisted the help of world-renowned architect Frank Gehry, who just so happened to be his childhood babysitter in Los Angeles.

A few years and $160 million later, the symphony moved into its new home on 17th Street and Washington Avenue, near the Miami Beach Convention Center. The New World Center, a state-of-the-art music campus and concert hall, made a splash when it opened in 2011. The main attraction was the center’s “Wallcast,” a giant projection on the front of the building that broadcast acoustically pure live music from inside the center’s auditorium. The projections are free for any highbrow music lover or random passerby to enjoy.

Rogers said she remembers the look on people’s faces on opening night as they sat on the grass and marveled at the music. The center “democratized classical music” and is a testament to Tilson Thomas’ artistic genius.

Tilson Thomas grew up as a piano prodigy raised by an arts-centric family in Los Angeles. His father, Ted Thomas, worked in films and television, and his mother, Roberta Thomas, was the head of research for Columbia Pictures. His grandparents, immigrants from Ukraine, were Yiddish theater stars in New York. He was mentored by the late Leonard Bernstein.

For now, Tilson Thomas continues to perform across North America on tour. He returns to Miami May 6 and 7 to conduct the New World Symphony in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 5. When he’s not conducting, he’s spending quality time with his partner, Joshua Robison, and their dogs.

“I’m planning more time to wonder, wander, cook, and spend time with loved ones — two legged and four,” Tilson Thomas wrote in his letter.

“Life is precious.”

This story was produced with financial support from The Pérez Family Foundation, in partnership with Journalism Funding Partners, as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The Miami Herald maintains full editorial control of this work.

This story was originally published March 2, 2022 at 6:25 PM.