Theodore Thomas and the Chicago Orchestra onstage at Music Hall during the 1894 Cincinnati May Festival (John Closs photo)

Wishing a very happy birthday to our founder and first music director Theodore Thomas on the occasion of his 182nd birthday!

“It will be seen, therefore, that we have in this country the possibilities of a great musical future. We have the natural taste of the people for music, their strong desire to have only the best, and their readiness to recognize what is the best when it is presented to them. We have exceptional natural resources for the making of musical instruments. Nature has done her part of the work generously; it remains for us to do ours.”

—From the article “Musical Possibilities in America,” written by Theodore Thomas for Scribner’s Monthly in March 1881