Celebrating 90 Years of Enriching Lives Through Music

On April 17, 1931 the Modesto Symphony Orchestra held its first concert to an audience of more than 1,200 at the First Presbyterian Church Auditorium which stood at the corner of 14th and I Street.

The program opened with Glinka’s lively Russlan and Ludmilla Overture and closed with Strauss’ Blue Danube Waltz. Also on the program was Haydn’s Surprise Symphony and selections from Rossini’s William Tell and Wagner’s Tannhauser. Soloists on that auspicious evening were orchestra members Leonardo Fristrom and Homer Fair, violinists, who performed the L’Arlesienne Suite by Bizet.

The orchestra numbered 74 on opening night and included many local students. 20 of the charter members were still playing with the organization two decades later. 33 years after its founding, when Mancini directed his final concert, the names of two original members appeared on the program: cellists Malin Langstroth and Blythe Slaughter.

Orchestra Personnel, April 1931

(original listing)

First Violin: Leonardo Fristrom, Homer Fair, Harold Hilton, Helen Beard, Archie Dixon, Hilma Gerard, Bethyl Wiens, Margaret Stevens, Marguerite Graham, Ruth Ekholm, Donna Reeves, Wilson Schuler, Ruth Riddle, Jane Rydbom, Doris McCormick

Second Violin: Bill Clinkenbeard, Isadore Brachman, Larry Morey, Florence Ney, Dorothy Brooks, Earl Ekholm, Linden Moore, Lola Truman, Emma Helmick

Viola: Clarissa Green, Virginia Laird, Eugenia Fitzgerald, Albert Lotspeich

Cello: Malin Langstroth, Leonard Johnson, Loi Gushe, Mary Kiersch, Ina Bradley, Francis Riell, Blythe Slaughter, Marjorie Saveker, Thayer Jones, Zelda Cox, Wilma Secrest