Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is among the finest orchestras in the nation and the largest cultural organization in Wisconsin. Since its inception in 1959, the mso has received critical acclaim for artistic excellence. In addition to making a $44.3 million economic impact in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and infusing $90 million into west Wisconsin avenue when we restored the warner grand theater, the 70 full-time professional musicians in the Symphony perform more than 135 concerts each season for over 200,000 patrons.

Education is integral to the mission of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and comprises two main components: k-12 in-school and education programs that address the need for integrated, high-quality arts education in the public schools and training of young professional musicians through programs such as stars of tomorrow concerts and side-by-side competition, and the Wisconsin youth piano competition. The k-12 education programs of the mso not only provide access to the arts for underserved students and families, they also address the need for integrated high-quality arts exposure and education in the public schools as required by the Wisconsin department of education. These initiatives currently serve more than 30,000 students and hundreds of teachers statewide, and are developed in conformity with the national standards for arts education and the Wisconsin common core standards. The mso continues to adapt its existing programs and develop new programs that support education reform in Wisconsin. This effort has become even more critical as programs in the arts have been decimated by deep cuts to the education budget of the state. The mso offered two concerts in 2023 that reached 70,000 students all around the state and beyond, and 20 ace videos that reached over 6,000 students at 30 schools in the 2022-2023 season.