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The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) was founded in 1914. It performed the world's first radio broadcast of a symphonic concert on February 10, 1922 with pianist Artur Schnabel, and became the first nationally broadcast radio orchestra on the Ford Sunday Evening Hour, later Ford Symphony Hour from 1934 to 1942 on the Columbia Broadcast System. The DSO is currently heard by one million listeners a week on the nationwide broadcast, the General Motors' "Mark of Excellence" radio series. Its live concert series is attended by 450,000 people a year and includes a series of free educational concerts for children begun in 1926. The symphony has produced many recordings on the Victor, London, Decca, Mercury, RCA, Chandos and DSO labels. The DSO recording of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring was the first CD to win the prestigious Grand Prix du Disque of the Charles Cros Academy. A fine arts high school on part of the symphony's property opened in 2005.

Until 1919, the DSO performed at the old Detroit Opera House. Upon the appointment of Ossip Gabrilowitsch as music director in 1918, he demanded a new auditorium be built as a condition of his accepting the position, leading to the construction of Orchestra Hall. In 1956, the Orchestra moved to Ford Auditorium on the waterfront of the Detroit River. The DSO remained in that venue for 33 years,^[1] but later returned to a renovated Orchestra Hall, which was said to feature better acoustics. The DSO has suffered financial challenges and setbacks for much of the past twenty five years struggling to find support in a rust-belt city. In 2003, the DSO renovated Orchestra Hall again and added a $60 million addition, including a recital hall and education wing, called The Max M. Fisher Music Center.

After a five-year search, the DSO announced on October 7, 2007, that Leonard Slatkin, music director of the National Symphony Orchestra, would become its twelfth music director, succeeding Neeme Järvi.^[2] Peter Oundjian, currently Music Director of the Toronto Symphony, is the DSO's current Artistic Advisor and Principal Guest Conductor. The current Resident Conductor is Thomas Wilkins. See below for a complete list of DSO Music Directors.

Since 1988, Emmanuelle Boisvert has been the concertmaster of the DSO.^[3] She was the first female to hold the position in the United States, and in 2007 she was also named one of four rotating concertmasters of the Seattle Symphony.^[4]

• Leonard Slatkin (2008-)
• Neeme Järvi (1990-2005)
• Günther Herbig (1984-1990)
• Antal Doráti (1977-1981)
• Aldo Ceccato (1973-1977)
• Sixten Ehrling (1963-1973)
• Paul Paray (1951-1962)
• Orchestra disbanded 1949-1951
• Karl Krueger (1944-1949)
• Victor Kolar (1940-1942)
• Ossip Gabrilowitsch (1918-1936)
• Weston Gales (1914-1917)

• Bargreen, Melinda (September 25, 2007), "Symphony plays musical chairs", The Seattle Times, <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/thearts/2003900131_concertmaster25.html>
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra (a), Orchestra Musicians & Staff: Emmanuelle Boisvert, <http://www.detroitsymphony.com/main.taf?erube_fh=dso&dso.submit.getOrchMember=1&dso.memberId=110>. Retrieved on 2007-10-09
• Detroit Symphony Orchestra (b), About the DSO: History, <http://www.detroitsymphony.com/main.taf?p=1,6>. Retrieved on 2007-10-09
• Stryker, Mark (October 7, 2007), "World-class maestro is heading to Detroit", Detroit Free Press, <http://freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071007/ENT04/71007040>

• Detroit Symphony Orchestra
• Noteworthy

• Orchestra Hall, Detroit
• Alexander Mishnaevski (the orchestra's principal violist)
• List of symphony orchestras

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