Metallica paid tribute to beloved San Francisco Symphony conductor and composer Michael Tilson Thomas, who died on Wednesday (April 22) at his home in San Francisco at age 81. “It is with great sadness that we learned of the passing of legendary conductor Michael Tilson Thomas,” the band wrote in a statement. “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.”
The veteran hard rockers collaborated with MTT (as he was affectionally known) for a pair of shows with the San Francisco Symphony on Sept. 6 and 8, 2019 dubbed S&M2, marking the 20th anniversary of Metallica’s original 1999 collaboration with the Symphony at Berkeley that produced the live album, S&M.
“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,” the band continued about the energetic, beloved conductor who led the San Francisco Symphony from 1995-2020 and was known for mixing audience favorites with more challenging and lesser-known works by contemporary composers and his work to expand the orchestra’s audience.
“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,” Metallica wrote. “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 S&M2 shows at San Francisco’s Chase Center drew 18,000 fans to the opening of the venue and it featured many of the same songs from the original show, in addition to tracks recorded in the two decades since, including “The Day That Never Comes,” “Confusion,” “Moth Into Flame,” “Halo on Fire” and “All Within My Hands.” The shows were conducted by Edwin Outwater and MTT, with the subsequent film directed by Wayne Isham grossing more than $2.5 million in theaters.
