With the musicians of the orchestra, MYSO Artistic and Music Director Carter Simmons is grateful to bring music to our wonderful community where he also serves as Music Director of the Festival City Symphony. For 30 years, Simmons’ leadership has been sought nationally and throughout our region where he has conducted for the Milwaukee Ballet, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, artists of the Florentine Opera, and the Wisconsin Philharmonic, among other regional orchestras. Simmons has toured throughout Europe, South America, and China, and led performances in Germany, the Czech Republic, Beijing’s Forbidden City Concert Hall, and Chicago’s Orchestra Hall. In 2023, Simmons will lead MYSO’s international concert tour of Belgium and The Netherlands including a performance in Amsterdam’s Royal Concertgebouw.
During his tenure leading the artistic and program staff, MYSO has grown to serve thousands of students and received the prestigious National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award in 2015. Mr. Simmons has served on the Education and Community Engagement Committee of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. He is a Past President of the Board of Directors of Milwaukee’s Civic Music Association who recognized Simmons as a Distinguished Professional in the Arts.
Born outside Washington, D.C., Mr. Simmons’ training included participation at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, the Eastern Music Festival, and lessons at the Tanglewood Music Center. A finalist of the National Conducting Institute of the National Symphony Orchestra, Mr. Simmons also participated in seminars conducting the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, and the Eastman Wind Ensemble. He attended classes of Elizabeth A. H. Green, John Downey, Leon Fleischer, Gustav Meier, and Frederick Fennell among others, and is most grateful to his teachers Dr. John R. Locke, Robert Gutter, Larry Rachleff, and Professor Thomas L. Dvorak.