Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Moves Forward on New Performance Home with Construction Feat

The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra is currently paving the way for one of downtown Milwaukee's largest redevelopment projects. The MSO is undergoing an $89 million conversion of Milwaukee's former Warner Grand Theater into its new concert hall, which is expected to open fall 2020. As part of this conversion, a rarely-seen construction feat took place yesterday, August 13, 2019, as an original 1931 seven-story cream city brick wall was moved 35 feet towards a city street while remaining fully intact.

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.