Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra

American symphonic orchestra, established in 1959 and based at Bradley Center, Milwaukee in Wisconsin. The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra (MSO) serves as the leading orchestra for Florentine Opera Company's productions. See also Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. MSO Music Directors Ken-David Masur (since 2019) Edo de Waart (2009—17) Andreas Delfs (1997—2009) Zdeněk Mácal (1986—1995) Lukas Foss (1981—86) Kenneth Schermerhorn (1968—1980) Harry John Brown (1959—1968) Milwaukee Symphony released over 14 albums on Koss Classics and Telarc, including Antonín Dvořák's complete symphonies and many other critically-acclaimed projects. MSO gave more than 100 international and US premieres by such renowned composers as Lukas Foss, Philip Glass, Geoffrey Gordon (2), Daron Hagen, Roy Harris, Erich Wolfgang Korngold, Richard Rodgers, Gian Carlo Menotti, Jean Sibelius, William Schuman and Ottorino Respighi. In September 2005, MSO became the first American orchestra to sell new recordings on iTunes. In January 2014, after a concert at Wisconsin Lutheran College, the orchestra's concertmaster and first violin, Frank Almond, was assaulted with a taser and robbed for two antique XIX-century bows and a priceless 1715 "Lipinski" Stradivarius violin. (A fine example of Antonio Stradivari's "golden period" luthiery, named after Karol Lipiński and appraised at over $5,000,000; Almond played the instrument on loan from an anonymous family member of Richard Anschuetz since 2008.) Luckily, the police arrested the culprits only a month later, and the violin was recovered intact.