Michael Tilson Thomas is one of America's most renowned music directors. During his 24-year-long stewardship of the San Francisco Symphony, he was known as the man who made a home for contemporary symphonic music out west, championing American music over the old European repertory. (Though he and SFO are known for their Mahler, too.) On this trip to Seattle, the famed conductor will breathe new life into Beethoven's Eroica Symphony, one of the composer's most celebrated, emotionally complex, and consequential pieces of music. Thomas will also conduct his own composition, Agnegram. by Rich Smith