History of the Middletown Symphony
Frank Simon organized the first civic symphony in Middletown in 1921. Dr. Simon formed the orchestra after the establishment of the Armco Band, but he soon realized that the success of the Armco Band required his full attention. As a result, he disbanded the civic orchestra. Various conductors reorganized the orchestra several times in the following years, but the organization did not reach stability until Miss Valda Wilkerson took over the baton as conductor in 1941.

Miss Wilkerson taught music at Roosevelt Junior High School. She studied at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music and during the summer months attended the Berkshire Music Center at Tanglewood, Massachusetts. While at Berkshire, she began to think about reestablishing a Civic Symphony in Middletown.

Rehearsals began in 1941 and the first concert was given on May 7, 1942, in the Armco Auditorium. All Middletown orchestra personnel performed free of charge, including the conductor, Miss Wilkerson. Within two years, the Civic Symphony Orchestra increased in size, and in 1945 the orchestra joined the American Symphony Orchestra League. In 1946 a Women’s Committee was formed to promote the sale of tickets and a business manager was named. Also that year a board of directors and officers were elected.  During the 1960-61 season, the orchestra became incorporated as the Middletown Symphony Orchestra.

In 1965 the Symphony became affiliated with Arts in Middletown (AIM), a non-profit organization that was formed to promote further musical and artistic education and culture of the people of the Middletown area. The first concert held in Dave Finkelman Auditorium was October 18, 1969. The Middletown Symphony Women’s Association was formed in 1973 to provide support in the form of hospitality and promotion of the Symphony. In 1974, a pops concert combined with a conductor auction fundraiser was added to the three performances given each season. The first outdoor concert was given in Sunset Park, free of charge to the public, in 1979, and became an annual Labor Day tradition until 1999. The free Labor Day concert moved to the AK Steel Labor Day Celebration in 2000. In the fall of 1980 the Middletown Youth Symphony was taken under the MSO umbrella.

Since the formal organization of the Middletown Symphony in 1941 five conductors have directed the orchestra including:

During his 12-year tenure as Assistant, and later Resident Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Maestro DeLeone served on its staff with Music Directors Max Rudolf, Thomas Schippers, Walter Susskind and Erich Kunzel.  He was also selected personally by Erich Leinsdorf to participate in an intensive master conducting seminar at Lincoln Center.

Maestro DeLeone is very pleased to have made his New York conducting debut with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for their season-opening gala performance of CARMINA BURANA and REVELATIONS at New York's City Center.  He made his Carnegie Hall debut with the Orchestra of St. Luke's in October of 1998 and was immediately re-engaged to host and conduct the "Family Concert Series."

Our versatile Music Director is also in his tenth year as host of the very popular weekly radio program, "Sunday Morning Music Hall,"  on WRRM (98.5 FM) in Cincinnati.