Michael Tilson Thomas

Michael Tilson Thomas, conductor, pianist, and composer, was born in Los Angeles to an artistic family; his grandparents, the Tomaschevskys, were prominent in Yiddish theatre. When photographed on December 11, 1969, the twenty-four year old Thomas had recently been named the youngest-ever assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He would go on to make build a huge reputation in the classical music world, including seven years as principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. He became the music director of the San Francisco Symphony and in 2009 received the American National Medal of Arts. In a Vogue feature about nine young conductors, Thomas was quoted that he has “tremendous faith in my generation … musically.”