Milton Preves

Who was Milton Preves?

Milton Preves was a violist, conductor. He was a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for 52 years, of which 47 years were as principal violist.

He attended the University of Chicago. In 1931, he joined the Little Symphony—a Chicago Symphony training ground—and was promoted to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1934. He became principal violist in 1939, which he held until he retired from the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1986.He played under the batons of all the Chicago Symphony's conductors, up until Sir Georg Solti, except for the Chicago Symphony's founder, Theodore Thomas. Preves was a founding member of the Chicago String Quartet, as well as the music director for the North Side Symphony for 26 years. Besides playing the viola, he was a conductor with Oak Park-River Forest, Wheaton, and Gary symphonies, as well as the Gold Coast Chamber Orchestra. He was also a part of the music faculty at a variety of universities: Chicago Musical College, Northwestern University, and DePaul University.