Milwaukee PBS to Live Broadcast First Concert in the Milwaukee Symphony Center

Milwaukee, Wis. 12/18/2019 – The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra announced today a partnership with Milwaukee PBS to live broadcast the orchestra’s first subscription concert in the new Milwaukee Symphony Center. The orchestra’s first subscription concert of the season is planned for October 2020 and will be conducted by Music Director Ken-David Masur and will include the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus. The specific date and repertoire will be released in early 2020.

“Milwaukee PBS, one of the most viewed PBS stations in the country, is excited to partner with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra on a live broadcast of the opening weekend performance,” said Bohdan Zachary, general manager of Milwaukee PBS. “A licensee of Milwaukee Area Technical College, Milwaukee PBS continues a years-long broadcasting collaboration that has existed between the two institutions. The fall 2020 concert special is destined to become a landmark event and that’s why we are especially honored to offer it live and at no charge to viewers through our region.”

“We are incredibly happy to partner with Milwaukee PBS,” said Mark Niehaus, MSO president and executive director. “We are thrilled that through Milwaukee PBS, thousands of people beyond the concert hall will be inspired by not only the orchestra’s performance, but by this historic theater. The access to stellar education, performances, news, and programming that is the mission of Milwaukee PBS makes them an excellent partner to the symphony as we aim to make our concert hall accessible to more people throughout Southeastern Wisconsin.”

In addition to the live broadcast of the MSO’s first concert, Milwaukee PBS will be producing a pre-concert special highlighting the symphony and the historic Warner Grand Theater.

The new Symphony Center is the MSO’s most ambitious project to date. The restoration and renovation of the historic Warner Grand Theater as a dedicated concert hall and home for the orchestra and two ancillary buildings began in 2017 and will be completed in the fall 2020. Preservation of this historic Rapp & Rapp theater, built in 1930, will be another catalyst in Milwaukee’s downtown renaissance and contribute to the vitality of West Wisconsin Avenue, with an average of 6,000 patrons attending concerts each weekend. An acoustically-superior home for the MSO, the Symphony Center is a crucial component of a long-range strategic plan to drive earned revenue and secure the orchestra’s financial future.

About Milwaukee PBS

Milwaukee PBS is southeastern Wisconsin’s premier non-commercial media organization.  Milwaukee PBS consists of two high-definition television stations, WMVS and WMVT, and four additional digital television services.  The Milwaukee PBS stations are the area’s only over-the-air source for PBS and other national public television programs. The stations are watched by over 627,770 viewers each week throughout southeastern Wisconsin and northern Illinois. Milwaukee PBS is a viewer-supported service of Milwaukee Area Technical College. MATC is a two-year vocational-technical college based in Milwaukee, WI offering day, evening and weekend classes on four campuses. For more information, visit www.MilwaukeePBS.org.

ABOUT THE MSO

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, led by Music Director Ken-David Masur, is among the finest orchestras in the nation and the largest cultural institution in Wisconsin. Since its inception in 1959, the MSO has found innovative ways to give music a home in the region, develop music appreciation and talent among area youth, and raise the national reputation of Milwaukee. The MSO’s 70 full-time professional musicians perform over 135 classics, pops, family, education, and community concerts each season in venues throughout the state. A pioneer among American orchestras, the MSO has performed world and American premieres of works by John Adams, Roberto Sierra, Phillip Glass, Geoffrey Gordon, Marc Neikrug, and Matthias Pintscher, as well as garnered national recognition as the first American orchestra to offer live recordings on iTunes. Now in its 48th season, the orchestra’s nationally syndicated radio broadcast series, the longest consecutive-running series of any U.S. orchestra, is heard annually by more than two million listeners. The MSO’s standard of excellence extends beyond the concert hall and into the community, reaching more than 40,000 children and their families through its Arts in Community Education (ACE) program, Youth and Teen concerts, and Family Series.

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. It has not been verified for its accuracy or completeness.