Michael Tilson Thomas is an American conductor, pianist and composer who hails
from the Thomashefsky family with ancestors who were cantors and performers in
the Yiddish Theater District in New York. His own works include 'From the Diary
of Anne Frank' (1990), 'Shówa/Shoáh' (1995), 'Poems of Emily Dickinson' (2002)
and 'Urban Legend' (2002). He is noted for conducting the works of Gustav Mahler
along with composers such as Aaron Copland, Charles Ives and Steve Reich. He was
music director of California's Ojai Music Festival several times over the period
from 1968 to 1994 and has ...