The May Festivals were given loyal public support and were successful from the beginning. Choral societies were numerous and the cause of advanced musical education found sincere support in every section of the city. The first orchestra to give public concerts was organized and operated by Michael Brand, a 'cellist of considerable local fame. He had gathered about him the more advanced of the local musicians and in 1894 an orchestra of forty men was giving concerts under his direction. In 1895 public spirited women, interested in the advancement of music, conceived the idea of establishing a regular symphony orchestra on a substantial basis through public subscription. This movement was led by the Ladies' Musical Club, of which Miss Emma L. Roedter was president and Mrs. William Howard Taft, wife of the later President of the United States, secretary. The conception of the plan that was followed is accredited to Miss Helen Sparrman, at that time honorary president of the Ladies' Musical Club. As a result, the Cincinnati Orchestra Association Company was organized and nine concerts were given under its direction during the season 1895-96. The season was divided into three series of three concerts each, and three prospective conductors, all of them men of wide experience, were engaged to conduct a series each. Following the performance of these trial concerts ten thousand dollars was secured by public subscription and the succeeding fall an orchestra of forty-eight men, with Frank Van der Stucken as permanent conductor, was established. The first regular season in 1895-96 consisted of ten pairs of concerts given in Pike's Opera House, on Friday afternoons and Saturday evenings, from November 20 to April 11, inclusive. The orchestra was increased to seventy men during the season 1896-97 and the concerts transferred to Music Hall, where they were given until the winter of 1911. About this time Mrs. Thomas J. Emery had begun the construction of a building for the use of the Ohio Mechanics Institute and the auditorium was so constructed that it could be made the home of the orchestra, which at this time was being operated under the corporation title of The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra Association Company. Mr. Van der Stucken's incumbency as conductor of the orchestra ended in 1906. The concerts given by the association during the season 1907-08 were given with orchestras from other cities and in 1908 no concerts were given. During the summer of 1909, however, the association, under the leadership of Mrs. Holmes, placed the orchestra on a permanent basis by raising a subscription fund of fifty thousand dollars a year for five years. Mr. Leopold Stokowski was installed as conductor and ten pairs of concerts were given the following year. The orchestra numbered sixty-five men.