Title: Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall, Inc. Collection Genre: Papers, Date: 1950-1986 (Predominantly, 1962-1986) Size: 48 linear feet ID#: 1290 OCLC: ©Walter P. Reuther Library of Labor and Urban Affairs HEFA.01c.update |
Ø Subjects Ø Transfer |
Scope & Contents
The Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO) grew out of a meeting of ten young women on January 8, 1914 at the home of Mrs. Alexander Sibley. To provide Detroit with culture, the women raised money for the first concert of the DSO presented on November 19, 1914. One of the orchestra's first music directors, Ossip Gabrilowitsch, demanded the DSO have a permanent home to give it a greater sense of professionalism. Designed by C. Howard Crane and built in 1919, Orchestra Hall served this purpose until 1956, when Henry and Edsel Ford Auditorium opened. The DSO returned to Orchestra Hall in 1989 because of its excellent acoustics.
The DSO not only performs regular subscription concerts and special concerts at its home, but also a series of Young People's Concerts and school concerts, outstate and national tour concerts, free concerts, mid-season festivals as well as the summer Meadow Brook Music Festival, radio broadcasts, and recordings. In 1979 the DSO made its first trip to Europe. The DSO also operates the Detroit Symphony Civic Orchestra, a pre-professional youth training orchestra.
The papers of Detroit Symphony Orchestra Hall, Inc. consist of correspondence, minutes, printed material, programs, reports, clippings, press releases and financial records related to the administration, marketing and public relations of the DSO. The papers also reflect the orchestra’s community outreach and cultural activities and the influence of Music Directors, Paul Paray, Sixten Ehrling, Antal Dorati, Gunther Herbig and Neeme Jarvi.
Afro-American musicians
American Symphony Orchestra League
Collective bargaining--Musicians
Conductors (Music)--Michigan--Detroit
Detroit Federation of Musicians Local 5
Detroit (Mich.)--Cultural affairs--Music
Detroit Symphony League
Gunther Herbig
Meadowbrook Music Festival--Michigan
Orchestra Hall--Michigan--Detroit
Public relations--Performing arts
Strikes and lockouts--Performing arts
Symphony orchestras--Michigan--Detroit
Women’s Association for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra
Several broadcast master tapes of DSO concerts produced by WDET Radio during the 1976-77 and 1977-78 seasons and a number of photographs have been placed in the Archives Audiovisual Collection.
48 storage boxes
Series I, Administrative Files, 1951-1986, Boxes 1-31, p. 4. To Series I-Index
Series II, Marketing and Public Relations, 1950-1986, Boxes 32-48, p. 19. To Series II-Index