Philharmonic orchestra debuts

Oct. 24, 1919: The Los Angeles Philharmonic gave its first concert, and The Times hailed it as a turning point for the city.

The orchestra, conducted by Walter Henry Rothwell, “startled Los Angeles out of her symphonic slumbers and introduced what might be termed a new epoch in local musical history,” The Times said.

“The audience was not especially notable as to size, the glamour of a premiere was not broadly apparent, but the people who were there represented musical taste, and their appreciation ... brilliantly testified the triumph achieved by the musicians under the scholarly and, at the same time, unconventional leadership of the new conductor,” the newspaper said.

Dvorak’s “New World Symphony” was among the offerings at the afternoon concert at Trinity Hall.

“The real proof of what financial backing will do for a musical enterprise is in the size of the orchestra,” The Times said. “It is easily the largest that has ever been heard here, for visiting bodies have not been full strength.”