Gateway Festival Orchestra

The Gateway Festival Orchestra of Saint Louis was established in 1964 by William Schatzkamer, then Professor of Music at Washington University, three members of the St. Louis Symphony (Alexander Lydzinski, Henry Loew and Jerome Rosen) and community leaders Kenneth Billups, Lily Kaufman and Martin Lanznar. At the time, the season of the St. Louis Symphony lasted only 6 months, leaving the summer without symphony concerts and the musicians in need of employment. With support from the 2 locals of the American Federation of Musicians, the Gateway was created to provide free summer concerts performed by an orchestra of 50 professional musicians playing symphonic repertoire. The first concerts were held on the levee of the Mississippi, near where the Gateway Arch was being built. Its 50 musicians came from Local 2 of the AFM and included 11 black musicians from Local 197. Since 1970, the Gateway has performed in the open-air shell of Brookings Quadrangle at Washington U. Free admission!