"Each week during the concert season, the PBS series Evening at Symphony, produced by WGBH TV Boston, brings the music of a great symphony orchestra to thousands of homes across the country. The Boston Symphony Orchestra, which performs these programs, epitomizes the fascination and the achievement of a remarkable musical institution. Since its inception in 1881 under the auspices of Major Henry Lee Higginson, the orchestra has reached out through recordings and television to an ever-growing national and international audience. The artistic aim remains what it has always been--the making of music. All symphony orchestras represent both a cultural investment and big business. Typically, more than 100 people play in the Orchestra year-round and their activities cover a wide spectrum of musical events--regular program series in Symphony Hall, the springtime Pops and summer Tanglewood concerts, concert tours, recording sessions, special chamber music concerts, and the filming and producing of Evening at Symphony. This handsomely illustrated volume takes the reader backstage at the BSO to discover for himself the history of the institution, the famous conductors, the musicians, the interaction of audience and performers, the special lore of this highly gifted group of people--in short, all the elements that are essential to the life of a major performing orchestra." --Dust jacket flap.