The fifth oldest orchestra in the United States that first performed in 1895 today is a conglomerate of violin players, viola players, cello strummers, double bass blasters, harp players, flute players, piccolo players, oboes players, English and French horn players, clarinet, e-flat clarinet and bass clarinets players, bassoon and contrabassoon crooners, trumpet blowers, trombone and bass trombone players, tuba and timpani players, percussionists, keyboard thumpers, guitar/banjo players, personnel managers, librarians and stage managers under music director Paavo Jarvi since September 2001, music director emeritus Jesus Lopez-Cobos (1986-2001) who had previously led the orchestra into a new era of international acclaim, conductor Erich Kunzel and assistant conductor Eric Dudley.
Frank Van Der Stucken was the first music director with a 48-man orchestra and went on to present the premiere Symphony No. 5 of Mahler. Financial as well as labor difficulties resulted in the disbanding of the orchestra in 1907. The year 1909 saw Leopold Stokowski revamping the orchestra with 77 men and during his stint for three-years hosted Busoni as well as Rachmaninoff, becoming immensely popular. In 1917 Ernst Kunwald led the band to its very first recording in Columbia with Eugène Ysaÿe succeeding him from 1918-1922.
Fritz Reiner in his tenure as a music director for nine years, from 1922 to 1931 presented the premieres of many works by Respighi, Ravel, and Debussy. By 1936 the orchestra was flourishing under Eugene Goossens receiving rave reviews for "Fanfare for the Common Man" and it returned to Music Hall. With Thor Johnson, Max Rudolf, Thomas Schippers and Walter Susskind at its helm the band portrayed evolution of 200 years of traditional music.
