San Francisco Symphony Music Director Laureate Michael Tilson Thomas took his final series of bows Saturday at Davies Symphony Hall at an event intended to celebrate his life and career.

Thomas shared in February that a brain tumor he has been battling for several years has returned, and while some treatment options remain, "the odds are uncertain" for good prognosis. The conductor said, "Now is the time to wind down my public appearances," and announced that he would be conducting one final concert at Davies on April 26, as a farewell to San Francisco and its classical music fans, and to celebrate his 80th birthday.

As the Chronicle reports, Saturday's concert featured Benjamin Britten’s Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell, Opus 34, new arrangements of a couple of Thomas's own works, and the finale of "Chichester Psalms," by Thomas's mentor, Leonard Bernstein. Thomas let proteges Teddy Abrams and Edwin Outwater share conducting duties as well, so that he could sit back and enjoy several of the pieces from stage left.

Audience members were given commemorative bandanas in Thomas's favorite color, blue, that included a quote from him printed on them: "There are two key times in an artist’s life. The first is inventing yourself. The second, the harder part, is going the distance."

Audience members could be seen waving them during rounds of applause, and using them to dab away tears, per the Chronicle.

In March, Thomas also gave a pair of farewell concerts at Miami's New World Symphony, which he co-founded.

He now plans to retreat to his home in Bolinas with husband Joshua Robison, and as he wrote in February, "A coda can vary greatly in length. My life’s coda is generous and rich. Life is precious."

Thomas made his conducting debut at the SF Symphony conducting Mahler's Ninth in 1974, at age 29. 21 years later he would become the symphony's music director.

Thomas already said his goodbyes at the SF Symphony twice in recent years, first upon his retirement in 2020 — the celebration of which ended up being muted and mostly online due to the pandemic — and then again following his cancer diagnosis and treatment, with a concert of Mahler in January 2024 that was assumed to be his last as a conductor.

"We have been so lucky to have him not only as a part of the San Francisco Symphony, but as part of the community,” said Symphony Chair Priscilla Geeslin, speaking to the Chronicle Saturday. "It’s incredibly emotional, seeing the people who have come out to celebrate Michael and how he’s mentored them. He has given so much to young musicians."

T0p image: Conductor Michael Tilson Thomas is honored during the 11th Annual California Hall of Fame ceremony at The California Museum on December 5, 2017 in Sacramento, California. (Photo by Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)