Quad City Symphony Orchestra papers

The Quad City Symphony Orchestra was founded on 10 February 1916 by A. W. Lee, Anna Johannsen, Marguerite Odhe, Arthur Petersen, Robert McDonald, Will Barthels, Alfred Mueller, Henry Sonntag, Frank Fick, Adolph Kohlhammer, Julius Schmidt, and Amelia Schmidt Gobble.¹ It was initially called the Tri-City Symphony Orchestra. The first director was Ludwig Becker, a German conductor who had been concertmaster in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and later became a teacher and concert soloist.² The Tri-City Symphony Orchestra held their first concert on May 19, 1916 at the Burtis Opera House in Davenport, Iowa. At the time, the group included a conductor, 60 musicians, and two soloists. The ensemble established a student orchestra in 1925 which provided educational opportunities for young musicians as well as training for potential new players in the adult ensemble. This group was later reorganized in 1958 and renamed the Youth Orchestra, which it is still called today. The Tri-City Orchestra changed its name to the Quad City Symphony Orchestra in 1985 and continue to play concerts in the Quad Cities community. The group has been a highly regarded ensemble for a community of this size, and they have featured a wide array of notable musicians since their inception.

1. Donald McDonald, A History of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra (Davenport, Iowa: Quad City Symphony Orchestra, 1989), p. 3.

2. Ibid. p. 4.