Thursdays at 9:00 pm
Maestro Ken-David Masur, Music Director and Polly and Bill Van Dyke Music Director Chair for the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (Photo: Adam DeTour)
Hear the country’s longest-running national classical radio series.
Since its founding in 1959, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) has continued to be one of the country’s most artistically vibrant and innovative orchestras. Millions nationwide have experienced the MSO since 1971 through its radio series – the country’s longest-running national classical radio series. Led by Ken-David Masur, who was appointed music director in 2018, the MSO’s virtuosic musicians excite listeners with over 140 live concerts across Wisconsin each season. A selection of concerts is featured in the broadcast series along with exclusive, behind-the-scenes conversations with musicians.
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra programs are part of the WFMT Orchestra Series.
There are no upcoming broadcasts at the moment.
Orchestras: Chamber, Wind, String
November 11, 2021
Ken-David Masur conducts this showcase of different orchestra configurations.
Dvořák’s ‘Stabat Mater’
November 4, 2021
Zdeněk Mácal conducts Barbara Pearson, soprano; Janice Taylor, mezzo-soprano; Jonathan Welch, tenor; Kurt Link, bass; Milwaukee Symphony Chorus in a performance of Dvořák’s seminal work.
Bridge to Classical
October 28, 2021
Ken-David Masur conducts this program of composers — including Mozart, Stamitz, and CPE Bach — who thrived in this transition between the Baroque and Classical eras.
Foss Conducts Foss
October 21, 2021
Lukas Foss takes center stage, conducting music that he composed. The evening culminates with an MSO commission: With Music Strong.
Wagner Masterworks
October 14, 2021
Kenneth Schermerhorn leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and soprano Jessye Norman, tenor Jess Thomas, and bass Thomas Paul in selections from Tannhäuser and Die Walküre.
Bach Fever
October 7, 2021
Season Premiere: Ken-David Masur conducts music by — and inspired by — Johann Sebastian Bach. Selections include works by Villa-Lobos and Arvo Pärt.
Conductor Peter Oundjian
December 24, 2020
Former Toronto Symphony Orchestra music director Peter Oundjian takes the stage for a program of music by Rachmaninoff, Debussy, Bernstein, and Beethoven.
Cellist Johannes Moser
December 17, 2020
Edo de Waart conducts two epic, sweeping works: Shostakovich’s first cello concerto and Rachmaninoff’s second symphony.
Pianist Joyce Yang
December 10, 2020
Joyce Yang joins guest conductor Stefan Asbury for an all-Russian program of music by Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, and Prokofiev.
Pianist Sergei Babayan
December 3, 2020
Music director Ken-David Masur welcomes pianist Sergei Babayan to the stage to perform Prokofiev’s third concerto. Also featured is music by Shostakovich, Schnittke, and Mussorgsky.
Pianist Orion Weiss
November 26, 2020
Pianist Orion Weiss joins conductor Ken-David Masur and the MSO to perform Beethoven’s second piano concerto. Music of Mendelssohn, Gabrieli, and contemporary composer Michele Dall’Ongaro rounds out the program.
Nielsen & Adams
November 19, 2020
MSO music director laureate Edo de Waart conducts two works by John Adams and Nielsen’s Symphony No. 5; Anu Tali takes the stage to round out the program with Nielsen’s Concerto for Flute and Orchestra.
Mozart Requiem & Ives’s ‘The Unanswered Question’
November 5, 2020
MSO music director laureate Edo de Waart conducts Ives’s The Unanswered Question and John Adams’s On the Transmigration of Souls. Yaniv Dinur conducts Mozart’s Requiem.
Beethoven
October 22, 2020
Conductors Gemma New and Ken-David Masur lead this program celebrating Beethoven, who was born 250 years ago this December.
Jun Märkl and Jorge Federico Osorio
October 15, 2020
An evening of Spanish music by Bizet, Ravel, Rimsky-Korsakov, and more.
Augustin Hadelich, violin
October 8, 2020
Hadelich takes the stage with music director Ken-David Masur to perform Sibelius’s violin concerto. Also featured is music by Tchaikovsky and by contemporary composer Kaija Saariaho.
Wagner, Schumann, and Strauss
October 1, 2020
Season premiere: Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra music director Ken-David Masur leads this mixed-repertoire program with pianist Nicolas Namoradze.
Doctor Atomic Symphony and Carmina burana
December 26, 2019
A double bill of stirring, epic orchestral music conducted by Francesco Lecce-Chong, the music director and conductor of the Eugene Symphony.