Dallas Symphony Orchestra

The Dallas Symphony Orchestra (DSO) is an American orchestra. It performs its concerts in the Meyerson Symphony Center in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, United States.

The orchestra traces its origins to a concert given by a group of forty musicians in 1900 with conductor Hans Kreissig. It continued to perform and grow in numbers and stature, so that in 1945 it was in a position to appoint Antal Doráti as music director. Under Doráti, the orchestra became fully professional. Several times during the history of the orchestra it has suspended operations, including periods during the First and Second World Wars from 1914 to 1918 and from 1942 to 1945, and more recently in 1974 due to fiscal restraints. Subsequent music directors have included Georg Solti and Eduardo Mata. Andrew Litton was music director from 1992 to 2006. In 2007, Jaap van Zweden was named the DSO's 15th music director, to begin full-time with the 2008-2009 season, with an initial contract of 4 years. In October 2009, the orchestra announced the extension of van Zweden's contract through the 2015-2016 season.