Hailed as “fearless, bold, and a life-force” (San Diego Union-Tribune) and “a brilliant and commanding conductor with unmistakable charisma” (Leipzig Volkszeitung), Ken-David Masur is celebrating his seventh season as Music Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and Principal Conductor of the Chicago Symphony’s Civic Orchestra.
Masur’s tenure in Milwaukee has been notable for innovative thematic programming and bridge-building, including a festival celebrating the music of the 1930s, when the Bradley Symphony Center was built; the Water Festival, which highlighted local community partners whose work centers on water conservation and education; a new annual city-wide Bach Festival, celebrating the abiding appeal of J.S. Bach’s music in an ever-changing world. He has also instituted a multi-season artist-in-residence program, and has led highly-acclaimed performances of major choral works, including a semi-staged production of Peer Gynt.
In 2025-2026, Masur will lead celebrations of the 50th anniversary of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, featuring performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 and Missa solemnis, as well as Bach’s St. Matthew Passion as part of the third annual Bach Festival. Ken-David Masur and the MSO will reunite with longtime collaborators such as Augustin Hadalich, Orion Weiss, Stewart Goodyear, Nancy Zhou as well as a special project with Bill Barclay and Concert Theatre Works to celebrate America’s 250th birthday with a program interweaving the music of Aaron Copland with the words of Mark Twain. In Chicago, Masur leads the Civic Orchestra, the premier training ensemble of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in a wide range of programs, including its annual Bach Marathon.
Masur has conducted distinguished orchestras around the world, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Baltimore, Detroit, and San Francisco Symphonies, l’Orchestre National de France, Minnesota Orchestra, Rochester Philharmonic, Norway’s Kristiansand Symphony and Tokyo’s Yomiuri Nippon Symphony. He has also made regular appearances at Ravinia, Tanglewood, the Hollywood Bowl, Grant Park, and international festivals, including Verbier. Recent highlights include subscription debuts with the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and the National Symphony as well as a triumphant return to the Oregon Bach Festival featuring a staged Carmina Burana.
Masur is passionate about contemporary music and has conducted and commissioned numerous new works over the years. Some notable pieces include Wynton Marsalis’ Harold Haller and Hallelujah, Augusta Read Thomas’ Bebop Kaleidoscope — Homage to Duke Ellington with the New York Philharmonic, Mannequin by Unsuk Chin with the Boston Symphony, Rounds by Jessie Montgomery, and Alan Fletcher’s Piano Concerto with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. Additional U.S. premieres under his baton include works by James B. Wilson, Dobrinka Tabakova, Christopher Cerrone, Edmund Finnis, Eric Nathan, and Jacob Beranek, among others.
Masur has made recordings with the English Chamber Orchestra and violinist Fanny Clamagirand, and with the Stavanger Symphony, the latter of which was named by WQXR, New York’s classical music radio station, as a “Best New Classical Release.” Masur also received a Grammy nomination from the Latin Recording Academy for Best Classical Album of the Year for his work as a producer of the album Salon Buenos Aires.
Masur and his wife, pianist Melinda Lee Masur are founders and Artistic Directors of the Chelsea Music Festival, an annual summer festival in New York City, with programs ranging from baroque and classical to contemporary and jazz, with a special emphasis of intersecting with the culinary and visual arts. The Festival celebrated its 16th Anniversary in 2025, has been praised by The New York Times as a “gem of a series” and by TimeOutNY as an “impressive addition to New York’s cultural ecosystem.” With Chelsea Music Festival Records Masur recorded “Dancing with J.S. Bach,” and “200° Due Clara”, and Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben with Naxos Records.
Born and raised in Leipzig, Germany, Masur was trained at the Mendelssohn Academy in Leipzig, the Gewandhaus Children‘s Choir, the Detmold Academy and the „Hanns Eisler“ Conservatory in Berlin. While an undergraduate at Columbia University in New York, Masur became the first music director of the Bach Society Orchestra & Chorus with which he toured to Germany and recorded the music of J.S.Bach and his sons.
Music education and working with the next generation of young artists are of major importance to Masur. In addition to his work with Civic Orchestra of Chicago, he has conducted orchestras and led masterclasses at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Peck School of the Arts, New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Boston University, Boston Conservatory, Tokyo’s Bunka Kaikan Chamber Orchestra, the Tanglewood Music Center Orchestra and The Juilliard School.
