Thursdays at 9:00 pm
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.
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.
Matthias Pintscher and Javier Perianes
December 19, 2019
Conductor and composer Matthias Pintscher leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a performance of works by Pintscher himself, plus Debussy, Saint-Saëns, and Scriabin.
Jeffrey Kahane conducts Mozart, Schubert, and Strauss
December 12, 2019
Maestro Kahane leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from the piano and from the podium in a performance of beloved repertoire by Mozart, Schubert, and Strauss.
Edo de Waart conducts Mahler 9
December 5, 2019
Music director laureate Edo de Waart leads the MSO in Mahler’s monumental Symphony No. 9 in D Major.
Music of Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff conducted by Dima Slobodeniouk
November 21, 2019
Finnish-Russian conductor Dima Slobodeniouk conducts the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in an all-Russian program of works by Prokofiev and Rachmaninoff featuring pianist Simon Trpčeski.
Conductor Alexander Shelley and violinist Blake Pouliot
November 14, 2019
Guest conductor Alexander Shelley and violinist Blake Pouliot take the Milwaukee Symphony Center stage for this performance of works by Mendelssohn, Bruch, and Walton.
Pianist Orli Shaham and conductor Joshua Weilerstein
November 7, 2019
Acclaimed pianist Orli Shaham joins guest conductor Joshua Weilerstein and the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Bartók’s Piano Concerto No. 3.
Carlos Kalmar leads works of Strauss, Bartók, and Dvořák
October 31, 2019
Carlos Kalmar, artistic director and principal conductor of the Grant Park Music Festival leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and concertmaster Frank Almond in a program of works by Strauss, Bartók, and Dvořák.