Why Are There Ads in Your Music?

Simple! Slacker Radio needs to pay your favorite artists.

Please disable your ad blocker or, better yet, upgrade to Radio Plus.

For only $3.99/month we'll remove all ads and give you unlimited song skips.

The music will continue in seconds.

Select to cast music to your TV or stereo

Your browser is not supported by the Slacker Radio web site.

Update your browser to the latest available version to use the Slacker Radio web site:

Google Chrome

Firefox

An error has occurred. Please check your username and password.

Need an account?

We'll start the music back up once
you go through this security check.

Have an account?

Feedback

Choose the Right Membership For You

Basic

FREE

Personalize your radio experience.
Choose from our hand-crafted stations
Skip up to 6 songs per hour/station
Listen on multiple devices
Create stations based on artists, albums, or songs
Personalize stations and save your preferences

current membership

Plus

$3.99/month

Personalized radio with no interruptions or limits.
Enjoy an ad-free experience
Skip unlimited songs
Download stations and shows to listen data-free on your mobile device
Customize ESPN Radio (a Slacker exclusive)
Hear maximum audio quality (320kbps)

current membership

Premium

$9.99/month

You're in total control of the ultimate listening experience.
Play thousands of songs and albums on-demand
Jump to the favorite parts of songs
Download playlists and albums and listen data-free on your mobile device
Create playlists from our massive library of songs
Along with all benefits of Plus membership

current membership

Message

Michael Tilson Thomas

Top Related Artists

Biography

A renowned American conductor, composer and pianist specializing in 20th-century American music, Michael Tilson Thomas conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic and London Symphony before his appointment in 1995 to the San Francisco Symphony. Born in Los Angeles on December 21, 1944, he studied composition with Ingolf Dahl at the University of Southern California, as well as piano, harpsichord and conducting. A student of Friedelind Wagner, he made his debut as assistant conductor at the Bayreuth Festival in 1966, and two years later won the Koussevitzky Prize at Tanglewood. After conducting the Youth Orchestra (1968-1969), Michael Tilson Thomas was appointed assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, then associate conductor and principal guest conductor. From 1971 to 1980, he was at the helm of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (New York State), where he also taught conducting. A leading specialist in twentieth-century American repertoire, he recorded compositions by George Gershwin, Aaron Copland and Charles Ives, alongside classical and romantic European works. Initiator of the Young People's Concerts for young audiences with the New York Philharmonic (1971-1977), he conducted the Los Angeles Philharmonic (1981-1985), and in 1987 founded the New World Symphony, an orchestra of young musicians based in Miami. The increasingly popular American conductor went on to become Music Director of the London Symphony (1988-1995), then of the San Francisco Symphony (1995-2020), with whom he recorded symphonies by Beethoven and Mahler on the SFS Media label. After collaborating with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and John McLaughlin on the albums Apocalypse (1974) and The Mediterranean (1990), and Elvis Costello on Il Sogno (2004), he founded the YouTube Symphony Orchestra in 2009. The creator of contemporary works by Knussen, Matthews, Reich, Takemitsu, McMillan, Holloway, Mackay and Adams, Michael Tilson Thomas has won a dozen Grammy Awards. He was successively awarded the Peabody Award (2007), the National Medal of Arts (2009) and the Kennedy Center Honor (2012). In 2022, illness forced him to step down as Music Director of the New World Symphony. Married in 2014 to his childhood friend Joshua Robison, Robison died in February 2026. On April 22, 2026, Michael Tilson Thomas dies of a brain tumor at the age of 81.

Read All Read Less