Former New Jersey Symphony employee discusses the New Jersey Symphony’s roots in Montclair

Helen S. Paxton, a former employee of the New Jersey Symphony, wrote to the Montclair Local to discuss the beginnings of the state orchestra back in Montclair in 1922, and the transformation of the Symphony into a top tier organization.

One hundred years ago, 13 men and six women – musicians who had performed with the Newark Symphony Orchestra, the Haydn Orchestra of Orange and the Lewellyn Ensemble of Montclair – gathered at the Montclair Art Museum to present a concert with conductor Philip James, then the organist and music director at Montclair’s St. Luke’s Church. That concert is now celebrated as the first in the history of the New Jersey Symphony.

Helen S. Paxton to Montclair Local

» Read her full letter