The earliest American conservatory worthy of its name is the Conservatory of Music of the Peabody Institute, Baltimore, which was founded in 1857. Its chief contribution to American musical education has been the Peabody concerts, a series of eight performances having been given annually since 1865. From 1872 to 1898 Asger Hamerick, the Danish composer, was director. He organized an orchestra of fifty performers, which became, under his intelligent training, a highly efficient instrument for the rendition of the most advanced music. The programs of his concerts were formed of overtures, symphonies, concertos, suites, and vocal solos. He gave especial attention to works by American, English, and Scandinavian composers, performing for the first time in America many notable compositions, among them a number of his own. The good work of the Peabody concerts, attracting, as it has done, the respectful attention of foreign masters, should be a matter both of encouragement and pride to those who have the cause of American music at heart. It points the way to high attainment in our musical appreciation and notable achievement in native composition. The year of 1867 is notable in American musical history for the establishment of five leading conservatories or musical colleges: the New England Conservatory in Boston; the Boston Conservatory; the Cincinnati Conservatory; the Oberlin Conservatory; and the Chicago Academy of Music, later known as the Chicago Musical College. The New England Conservatory was founded by Eben Tourjée, whom Sir George Grove, in his 'Dictionary of Music and Musicians,' denominates the 'father of the conservatory or class system of instruction in America.' The nature of this system and its advantages have been well expressed by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, who said: 'The class system has the advantage over the private instruction of the individual in that, by the participation of several in the same lessons and studies, a true feeling is awakened; and in that it promotes industry, spurs to emulation, and is a preservative from one-sidedness of education and taste.'