The community concert movement in the US dates back to 1927, when seven leading impresarios including violinist Jascha Heifetz, and representatives of the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Metropolitan Opera, met at the elite Lotos Club in Manhattan with an audacious plan to export musical culture to rural America.
With the added backing three years later of the Columbia Broadcasting System, the new entity, the Community Concerts Corporation, was complete, and for much of its history it was as close to a cultural monopoly as the nation may ever have seen. After seeding the country with hundreds of nonprofit audience associations made up of local subscribers, Community Concerts filled its bills with artists.
Community concert associations gained in popularity after World War II with 1,008 associations in 1950. Ottawa's first community concert association was called the Ottawa Civic Music Association, later doing business as the Ottawa Community Concert Association and since 2002 the Ottawa Concert Association. At one time Ottawa was joined by associations in Dixon, Lincoln, Pekin, Peru, Princeton, and Streator. With changing tastes, and competition for the entertainment spectator, the number of associations dropped to 320 by 1999. Now only Ottawa and Pontiac have community concert associations.
The Ottawa Concert Association is managed by a volunteer board of 18 directors which meets 3-4 times yearly. In October, the board selects the concerts for the upcoming season from a catalogue provided by our broker, Allied Concerts Services from Minnesota. The board sustains its programs through membership sales, donations, and memorials. The four Ottawa concerts in 1947 cost $3,200. Four concerts in 2022 cost the association $20,000.
Since 1947 we have brought over 289 concerts to Ottawa subscribers. We try to include a diverse style of acts. Some of the more noteable acts included:
Acrobats: Golden Dragon Chinese Acrobats
Broadway : Bravo Broadway
Classical: Kremlin Chamber Orchestra, Illinois Brass Band, The Dallas Brass
Dance: Rhythm in Shoes
Ethnic: The Cassidys, Cherish the Ladies
Folk: The Brothers Four, Woods Tea Company
Jazz: The Barbary Coast Dixieland Band, Butch Thompson Trio
Mime: Robert Post
Musicals: Forever Plaid, Amahl and the Night Visitors
Organist: Hector Olivera
Piano: Piano Four, Sally Harmon, Paul Asaro
Variety: The Brett Family, Popovich Comedy Pet Theater
Vocal: Australian Boys Choir, Home Free, Opus One