Michael Tilson Thomas, an American conductor who grew up in public from an imperious wunderkind into one of the grand old men of classical music, died April 22 at his home in San Francisco. He was 81.
The cause was glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer, according to his publicist, Constance Shuman. In February 2025, Mr. Tilson Thomas announced that he was scaling back engagements because of a recurrence of the disease, which he had been battling for four years.
