About the Ensemble

The Milwaukee Symphony from above (click to enlarge)

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, now in its 47th season, is one of the youngest of the top 20 American symphonies. Musicians and staff alike attribute its relative youth to the proximity of the Chicago Symphony, which frequently performed in Milwaukee in the early part of the century, and continued to give up to 10 subscription concerts in Milwaukee until the mid-1980s.

For all its youth, the MSO has had an illustrious career, touring nationally and internationally, performing often at Carnegie Hall, and even touring Cuba in 1999, the first American orchestra to do so since the late 1950s.

Founded in 1959 with Harry John Brown as its first music director, the MSO gained national prominence during the Kenneth Schermerhorn years (1968 to 1980). Schermerhorn initiated the MSO’s state touring program and worked with the legendary Margaret Hawkins to form the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. The Milwaukee Symphony Chorus is a true gem – one of the best symphony choruses in the country. After Ms. Hawkins untimely passing in 1993, the role of director passed to her protégé, Lee Erickson, who has continued the tradition of choral excellence.

Lukas Foss took over the podium in 1981 and instituted a increased focus on contemporary and American music. In 1986 he led the MSO on its first European tour. The podium passed to Zdenek Macal in 1986; he led the MSO on a tour of Japan in 1992, among other noted achievements.

Andreas Delfs became music director in 1997 and, over the course of his ten years with the symphony, has brought the orchestra much acclaim for its artistic brilliance and his innovative programming. Indeed, the Milwaukee Symphony consistently performs at a level far above what might be expected for a city the size of Milwaukee. Maestro Delfs has announced that he will step down from the music director position at the end of the 2008-09 season, the orchestra’s 50th anniversary season.

=> View an excerpt from a video interview with Maestro Delfs.

In the 1990s, the Milwaukee Symphony began to seriously grow its education and outreach programs. The MSO’s ACE (Arts in Community Education) program integrates music and arts into the classroom in schools throughout greater Milwaukee. 35 ensembles, comprised of over 100 MSO musicians and local cultural partners, visit the schools throughout the year, providing arts experiences while supporting the ACE and core curriculum. Currently three ACE ensembles visit each classroom annually, totaling more than 420 in-school visits and reaching more than 40,000 students annually. In addition, each school holds a Family Night concert and the ACE program presents grade-specific concerts at Uihlein Hall. The ACE program has been a model for many other orchestras formulating their own education/outreach programs.

The Milwaukee Symphony performs regularly at Uihlein Hall at the Marcus Center for the Performing Arts. They will play 95 concerts in the 2305-seat hall this season, but will also give 45 performances in other venues. Built in the mid-1960s, Uilhein Hall features a 30,000-lb. pipe organ, built by the Aeolian Skinner Company, which is stored 30 feet under the stage, and is be raised to stage level by its own elevator.

The MSO in Uihlein Hall with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus (click to enlarge)

The orchestra has experienced financial troubles in recent years – a situation oh too common with many American orchestras. However, the board and musicians put together a 3-year plan to reduce expenses and raise $15 million to retire their accumulated deficit and put them on firm financial ground for the future. Since then, they've been working with former San Francisco President Peter Pastreich on refining that plan. MSO President and Executive Director, Mark Hanson, explains how the plan came about and asserts that they remain on target for this season. (See page 3 of this spotlight for an interview with Mark.)

In light of these financial difficulties, the 88 contracted musicians agreed to a concessionary 3-year contract in 2005, cutting their season by 4 weeks – from 43 weeks to 39 weeks, which reduced a section player’s yearly salary from $59,125 to $53,625. Roger Ruggeri, bassist and chair of the Players’ Council, said that the musicians were disappointed, but hopeful that the contract would strengthen the orchestra in the long term. (For more insights from Roger, see page 2 of this spotlight.)

But perhaps the MSO’s most noted initiative is its ventures into new technologies. The orchestra has been doing national radio broadcasts continuously since 1976; these performances have aired in hundreds of cities nation-wide. Few other orchestras can claim such a catalogue of roughly 400 performances on tape. In the fall of 2005, the MSO decided to offer these broadcasts, under the “MSO Classics” label, for purchase as downloads on Apple’s iTunes website. No other orchestra had ever done such a thing before, though several, including Los Angeles, Minnesota, New York, and St. Paul, have followed suit.

Making use of the AFM’s Internet media agreement, ratified in 2000, which allows for local determination of the specifics of an Internet download or streaming agreement, the MSO has decided that 40% of the revenue from all Internet sales (including the MSO Online Store) will go to the musicians, with adjustments to recompense guest artists. At this point, no one is getting rich from this agreement, but the Milwaukee Symphony has received international attention for its pioneering strides into the world of symphonic Internet downloads. Robert Levine, Principal Violist and one of the chief negotiators of the 2000 AFM Internet agreement, has written a detailed explanation of how the MSO’s iTunes initiative came about – see page 4 of this spotlight.

In addition to selling “product” on iTunes, the MSO has also embarked on a revolutionary recording project using 19th century technology – binaural recordings. Using a dummy of a human head with microphones in both ears, these recordings present the sound of a concert as if one were hovering 10 feet above and behind the conductor. Binaural microphones were first used in the late 19th century, but have come back into fashion because of the prevalence of the use of earphones, particularly with owners of iPods and MP3 players. The quality of the recordings cannot really be appreciated over traditional speakers; headphones are a must. Page 5 of this spotlight presents a description of the binaural recording project, written jointly by Robert Levine and Tracy Johnson, former PR Director of the MSO, as well as a photograph of the recording device itself.

Polyphonic.org salutes the Milwaukee Symphony for its continued successes and innovations!