During the tenure of Kenneth Schermerhorn, the orchestra's second music director, from 1968 to 1980, the orchestra had begun its 'State Tour' programme of concerts around Wisconsin, to such cities as Fish Creek, Fond du Lac, Marinette, Ripon, Rhinelander, Three Lakes, West Bend, and Whitewater, Wisconsin, as well as Naperville, Illinois.

The orchestra also initiated its concerts for students, gave its first performance at Carnegie Hall in 1972, and embarked upon its first international tour to the Dominican Republic in March 1974.

[3] In December 2017, the orchestra purchased the former Warner Grand Theatre,[4] which was restored and remodeled, and opened to full audiences in October 2021.

[5] In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the MSO extended the initial duration of Masur's tenure first contract as music director through the 2023-2024 season.

[6] In October 2024, the MSO announced that Masur is to conclude his tenure as its music director at the close of the 2025-2026 season.

The orchestra has presented more than 100 world and American premieres of works by composers such as Lukas Foss, Philip Glass, Geoffrey Gordon, Daron Hagen, Roy Harris, Erich Korngold, Gian Carlo Menotti, Marc Neikrug, Matthias Pintscher, Daniel Schnyder, Jean Sibelius, Roberto Sierra, Gunther Schuller, William Schuman, Ottorino Respighi, Richard Rodgers, and others.

9; Berlioz' Symphonie Fantastique; Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky; and Smetana's Ma Vlast.

In 2004, the MSO released the first modern recording in English of Humperdinck's Hänsel und Gretel on the Avie label.