Newly formed in the metro Milwaukee are, the Milwaukee Philharmonic is an organization dedicated to making high quality orchestral music accessible to the average person, free of charge.  We seek to create an approachable concert experience by presenting shorter programs, at no cost, to encourage families, students, and newcomers to classical music to attend.

Since the orchestra’s formation in 2017, the Milwaukee Philharmonic has given 15 concerts free of charge to the public.  Though the bulk of the performances include music that exists in the public domain, the orchestra has performed the music of local living composers, including giving the world premiere of Penny Corris’ Symphony No. 1 to a 350-person audience at the Sharon Lynne Wilson Center in Brookfield, WI, and the world premiere of her Symphony No. 2 in the orchestras first post-pandemic performance, and the first musical group to perform at the new Village Park Amphitheater in Menomonee Falls, WI, to an audience of over 1,200. The orchestra has also performed with highly acclaimed soloists, and have world renowned artists asking to perform with the orchestra.

The Milwaukee Philharmonic first gained national recognition when Founding Music Director and Conductor, Matthew Makeever, took second place in the Community Orchestra Division of the American Prize in Conducting, for their performance of Brahms’ Second Symphony.  The orchestra also gained acclaim in March of 2020, when the orchestra gave a live-streamed performance of Brahms’ Third Symphony, just as the pandemic hit the nation.  This performance had shares and viewership over 5000 times, including prominent professional orchestras around the country.

Though the Milwaukee Philharmonic is not yet a 501c3 organization, it is moving in that direction very quickly.  Recently incorporated as an LLC, The Milwaukee Philharmonic has partnered with Create Wisconsin to act on our behalf as a Fiscal Receiver.  You can donate to the page by clicking here.

The orchestra is a growing organization, are looking for assistance in key areas to help achieve our goals.

• Above all else, we believe that the devoted musicians who are generously sharing their talent and time to deliver high-quality performances as members of the Milwaukee Philharmonic deserve to be compensated, and financial assistance would help us achieve this goal.
• We are grateful for the generosity of the venues in which we currently perform.  The growth in our membership is causing us to rapidly outgrow their capacity quickly. Financial or in-kind support towards a larger performance space would provide the ensemble the opportunity to expand the repertoire we are performing and reach new audiences.
• To support our mission of reaching diverse audiences through diverse repertoire, we need financial assistance to secure music rentals and performance rights to contemporary works that are not in the public domain.

If you are able to help support us in any of these ways, please direct inquiries to mkephilharmonic@gmail.com. Please visit mkephilharmonic.org for more information on our upcoming season.  Also, please like the orchestra’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/MKEphil.