Musicians of Leading United States Orchestras

Principal Musicians of Leading United States Symphony Orchestras

There seems to be a surprising lack of historical information on the musicians of many of the leading symphony orchestras of the United States. 

Consequently, out of my own interest, I have begun to compile information on the musicians of the major US orchestras listed below.  The links to the web pages covering the named orchestras.

In most cases, there are two pages on each orchestra:

- First is a listing all the PRINCIPAL Musicians of that orchestra.  This lists in chronological order all the Principal, or first-chair musicians of the orchestra page.

- Second is a listing of ALL the musicians of each orchestra since its creation.

Any corrections or additions to these listings would be welcome by contacting me as shown at the foot of this page .

Below are links to each page of musicians of leading orchestras:

Titles of First Chair Musicians

Note:  Today, except for the concertmaster (sometimes called the 'Leader' in Europe), the usual title for the first or leading instrument of an orchestral section is 'Principal', as in 'Principal Flute'.  However, in earlier years and in some orchestra sections, the first chair musician may have been referred to as 'Solo', or 'First'. 

In the musician profiles in these listings, for consistency and clarity, I usually use the title "Principal" even if the title was not yet used at that time.

If you have any comments or questions about this Leopold Stokowski site, please e-mail me (Larry Huffman) at e-mail address: leopold.stokowski@gmail.com