The Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, hoping to dig its way out from under a $4 million accumulated debt, has hired Mark C. Hanson as its new executive director. Hanson has run the Knoxville (TN) Symphony for the past two seasons, and received a national award recognizing his progress in both financial and artistic areas there. Hanson is quite young – 29 years old – but his record in retiring debt was apparently attractive to the MSO’s search committee, and he is himself a musician, which is often thought to be an important factor to an orchestra’s players.