Metallica have paid tribute to the late Michael Tilson Thomas, who fans will recognise as the conductor who led the San Francisco Symphony during the band’s S&M2 concerts in 2019.
Per The New York Times, Thomas passed away this week at the age of 81 after battling brain cancer.
“It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of legendary conductor Michael Tilson Thomas. A towering figure in classical music, many of you became familiar with the man known as MTT when he worked with us as a major driving force in the development and live performances of the S&M2 shows in San Francisco in September of 2019,” Metallica wrote in a statement.
“MTT was more than a conductor; an accomplished pianist and composer, he served as the San Francisco Symphony’s musical director for 25 years. During his time with the orchestra, he brought innovation, experimentation, and community engagement to San Francisco. He fostered contemporary music by forming relationships with living composers and creating fresh accounts of standard repertory. Throughout his career, he earned 12 Grammy Awards.
“We cherished our time with MTT and learned so much working with him to prepare the S&M2 performances; it was a very high honor to have him on the podium for our shows. He will be sorely missed.”
The 2019 concerts were delivered as a sequel to the 1999 Symphony & Metallica shows. Speaking to Rolling Stone in 2019, drummer Lars Ulrich praised Thomas’ work and encouragement for the band to perform some classical music with the symphony.
“The minute MTT suggested it, the whole thing just oozed rock collaboration,” he said.
Love Music?
Get your daily dose of metal, rock, indie, pop, and everything else in between.
“About a week before the rehearsals started, MTT and his team came out to HQ and we started just going through it. … And all of a sudden, there was a beat or a drum pattern I hit upon, and Kirk [Hammett] started doing that crazy melody and James started doing his chunky riff thing and it was off to the races.
“The minute MTT suggested it, the whole thing just oozed rock collaboration,” Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone in 2019. “About a week before the rehearsals started, MTT and his team came out to HQ and we started just going through it. … And all of a sudden, there was a beat or a drum pattern I hit upon, and Kirk [Hammett] started doing that crazy melody and James started doing his chunky riff thing and it was off to the races.”
