Sony Classical Releases the Michael Tilson Thomas Box Set

The 80-CD Edition celebrates conductor and pianist Michael Tilson Thomas' 80th Birthday

In celebration of American conductor and pianist Michael Tilson Thomas's 80th birthday this year, Sony Classical has released the Michael Tilson Thomas Box Set, an 80-CD set that collects Michael's entire discography from RCA, CBS, and Sony Classical between 1973 and 2005.

To purchase and listen to the album, click here.

Born in 1944 in Los Angeles, Michael Tilson Thomas' career as a conductor took off at an early age. At 19, he was conducting premières of works by Boulez, Copland, Stockhausen and Stravinsky. He assisted Pierre Boulez at the Ojai Festival in California. The following decades would include Michael's appointment as assistant conductor of the Boston Symphony under William Steinberg, music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, and principal guest conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

In 1988, he founded and directed the Miami-based New World Symphony, and became principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra that same year. In 1995, he became music director of the San Francisco Symphony.

Sony Classical's 80-CD set includes a diverse array of works from contemporary guitarist and composer John McLaughlin's Apocalypse with the Mahavishnu Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra in Disc 1, to Liszt's Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major for Piano and Orchestra with the London Symphony Orchestra and pianist Kazune Shimizu in Disc 80.

The discs showcase many of the orchestras Michael conducted — such as the London Symphony Orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, the New World Symphony, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Concertgebouw Orchestra, the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, and more.

Listen to Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Joshua Bell conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas below: