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89 years ago, on Thursday, March 19, 1931, the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra defied the odds and performed for the very first time at William Penn High School in Harrisburg. At the time the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression and it was not the time to start such an ambitious project as starting a new symphony orchestra, but Harrisburg refused to listen.  A standing room only audience eagerly awaited the appearance on the podium of the orchestra’s youthful, talented, and debonair conductor, George King Raudenbush of New York City. He would  lead the orchestra in a crowd-pleasing program consisting of Gluck’s Overture to Iphigenia in Aulis, Schubert’s ever-popular Symphony No. 8, “The Unfinished,” and the Schumann Piano Concerto in A minor with Jacques Jolas as soloist. Excitement was at a fever pitch, not only on the part of the musicians and conductor, but audience as well, for the evening’s concert was a dream come true.         "The Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, A 75th Anniversary History" by Cornelius A. Rodgers