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.
Johannes Debus conducts music by Wagner, Mozart, and Saint-Saëns
October 24, 2019
Pianist Louis Lortie and guest conductor Johannes Debus join the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra for a program of works by Wagner, Mozart, and Saint-Saëns.
Vadim Gluzman plays Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto
October 17, 2019
Under the baton of Yaniv Dinur, violinist Vadim Gluzman performs Tchaikovksy's Violin Concerto. Also featured in this program are works by living Israeli composer Menachem Wiesenberg and a Shostakovich symphony.
Karina Canellakis and Jader Bignamini
October 10, 2019
Two rising conductors, Karina Canellakis and Jader Bignamini, share conducting duties in this Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra broadcast. Canellakis starts the program with music by Lilli Boulanger and Stravinsky, and Bignamini concludes the evening with works by Tchaikovksy and Respighi.
Ken-David Masur conducts Rachmaninoff and Brahms
October 3, 2019
Ken-David Masur, the newly-appointed music director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, leads the MSO in a performance of Rachmaninoff's beloved Piano Concerto No. 2 featuring soloist Boris Giltburg. Masur also conducts a performance of Brahms' Symphony No. 2.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9
December 27, 2018
Jun Märkl conducts a performance that culminates in Beethoven’s iconic Symphony No. 9. Also featured, Joan Tower’s Fanfare for the Uncommon Woman No. 1 and Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms. Ken-David Masur leads a performance of Augusta Read Thomas’s Radiant Circles. This is the final broadcast in this series for 2018.
Sensuous Ravel
December 20, 2018
Enjoy a mixed program as Ken-David Masur leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Chorus in a performance of works by Copland, Vaughan Williams, Ravel, and Brahms.
Dvořák’s New World Symphony
December 13, 2018
Hans Graf conducts the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a program of works by Barber, Prokofiev, and Dvořák. Truls Mørk is the cellist for Prokofiev’s Sinfonia concertante for Cello and Orchestra.
Asher Fisch conducts Mahler
December 6, 2018
Asher Fisch leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a program featuring music from Britten, late MSO music director Lukas Foss, and Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erd (The Song of the Earth). The program features Bella Hristova, violin; Michelle DeYoung, mezzo-soprano; and Stuart Skelton, tenor.
Prokofiev Triumphant
November 29, 2018
Yaniv Dinur conducts the MSO in a program featuring Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 5 and Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, with pianist Drew Peterson. This program also includes the MSO premiere of a work by Emily Cooley, a Milwaukeean composer.
Andreas Delfs Returns
November 22, 2018
The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra’s conductor laureate, Andreas Delfs, returns to lead a program featuring music by Mendelssohn, Vaughan Williams, and living American composer Pierre Jalbert.
Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2 and Ligeti’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra
November 15, 2018
Stefan Asbury conducts the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 2. Plus, violinist Augustin Hadelich appears to perform Ligeti’s Concerto for Violin and Orchestra.
Beethoven’s Emperor Concerto
November 8, 2018
Fabien Gabel leads the MSO and pianist Louis Schwizgebel in an evening of varied music by Beethoven, Bernstein, Schmitt, and Ravel.
American Classics
November 1, 2018
Teddy Abrams conducts the MSO and guest Susanna Phillips, soprano, in a program of American works, featuring Bernstein’s Divertimento and Copland’s Symphony No. 3.
American Masters — Copland, Bernstein, and John Adams
October 25, 2018
Edo de Waart conducts the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a broadcast of celebrated American composers.
Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5
October 18, 2018
Karina Canellakis, winner of the 2016 Georg Solti Conducting Award, leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5 and a work by Nico Muhly. Also featured in this program: Michael Francis conducts the MSO and pianist Joyce Yang in a performance of Bernstein’s The Age of Anxiety, Symphony No. 2, and Joshua Weilerstein conducts Bump by Christopher ...
De Waart Conducts Mozart
October 11, 2018
Edo de Waart conducts the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a program of Ives, Haydn and Mozart.
Bernstein, Clyne, Heggie, and Beethoven
October 4, 2018
Cristian Măcelaru leads the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in a varied program featuring Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7 and an orchestral suite of Jake Heggie’s Moby-Dick arranged by Măcelaru.
Mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke sings Mahler
March 29, 2018
Edo de Waart conducts Sasha Cooke as the mezzo-soprano soloist in Mahler’s Symphony No. 3 in D Minor featuring the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Chorus women’s voices and Milwaukee Children’s Choir. This is the final broadcast in this series.
Edo de Waart and Susan Babini
March 24, 2018
Edo de Waart conducts a program featuring cellist Susan Babini.
Edo de Waart and Ronald Brautigam
March 15, 2018
Edo de Waart conducts a program featuring pianist Ronald Brautigam.
