It all started with a chamber orchestra in 1967 organized by a dozen musicians and Brooke Creswell as the music conductor. They operated under the auspices of Yakima Valley Community College and performed in the small, acoustically dry College Theater with occasional run-outs to the Capitol Theatre or Davis High School. During those first few years a group of dedicated people determined that the chamber orchestra deserved the stability that an autonomous organization could provide and they incorporated as Patrons of Music.

Patrons of Music promoted the orchestra to "symphony" status and presented the Yakima Symphony Orchestra for its first season in 1971-1972, complete with committees of ticket sellers and publicists. After two years the young corporation began the formation of a staff by retaining a manager and then putting its music director on payroll. Next stop was Perry Tech to hold the growing audience. There was also collaboration with the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, the most notable feature of which was the annual Orchestra Week culminating in a joint concert of the Yakima Symphony Orchestra and the Spokane Chamber Orchestra. After the devastating fire and restoration at the Capitol Theatre, the Yakima Symphony moved in as its principal tenant. We still have that status.

The next few years included an event that proved to be the critical one in the history - the Board decided to put all players on the payroll. All the years since have brought the orchestra and its audiences awards and rewards that have included two ASCAP citations for adventuresome programming of contemporary music, several premier performances, first Yakima performances of such major works as Holst's The Planets and Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 and the creation of two educational concerts.

The musical advances in the Yakima Symphony Orchestra have astounded virtually all observers and after overcoming two serious deficits, the orchestra stands fiscally as well as musically strong. The organization now boasts two other groups who work with us, the Yakima Symphony Chorus and the Yakima Youth Symphony Orchestra and YES Strings. Over the years many "big" names have joined the orchestra on stage. There have been more premiers, more collaborations, more staff, more outreach, more ups and downs but still the same quality with rostered players from all over the entire state. The key to the remarkable success story is the uncommon commitment shown over the decades by the orchestra's audience, it players, its Board, its staff and its supporters. The future, with a new Music Director is bright.