Beloved and celebrated conductor Michael Tilson Thomas will once again conduct the San Francisco Symphony, but it’s for one night only in April in celebration of his 80th birthday, and he’ll only be conducting two numbers.

Fun symphonic fact: Tomorrow, December 21, is retired, 25-year San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas’s 80th birthday! And the SF Symphony is indeed bringing him back to conduct the symphony one more time for his 80th birthday, according to the Chronicle.

But the show will not be Saturday, and it won’t be until April.  

More specifically, the show will be on April 26, 2025. It’s a one-night only affair, and Thomas will only be conducting two pieces; Benjamin Britten’s “The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra” and Ottorino Respighi’s “Roman Festivals.”

Thomas, of course, retired as conductor in 2021. He was then diagnosed with a form of brain cancer known as glioblastoma multiforme, though has occasionally returned to the podium after surgery and treatment. He returned to the SF Symphony for another one-night engagement this year in January to conduct Mahler’s Fifth Symphony.

Tickets for MTT’s one-night return will go on sale January 28, 2025 on the SF Symphony website, with prices starting at $99.

Related: SF Symphony Celebrates Michael Tilson Thomas' Retirement Online, and on the Radio [SFist]

Image: LENOX, MA - AUGUST 25: Michael Tilson Thomas conducts Copland's Appalachian Spring perform at "The Leonard Bernstein Centennial Celebration at Tanglewood" on August 25, 2018 in Lenox, Massachusetts. The Boston Symphony Orchestra was joined by members of the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra, Pacific Festival and Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. The performance was taped by PBS for broadcast in the U.S. on December 28, 2018. (Photo by Paul Marotta/Getty Images)