The thirty founders listed on the document, forming the first board of directors, included cellist Hans Kronold, organist-composers Clarence Eddy, C. B. Hawley, and Frank Edwin Ward, and first presidents Tali Esen Morgan and David Bispham.

While eventually unsuccessful, the initiative received support from figures such as composer Henry F. Gilbert, arts patron Otto Hermann Kahn, and Congressman John J. Eagan, who at one point planned to propose a bill to Congress establishing such a fund, along with a national conservatory.

[9] Under the presidency of teacher and accompanist Frank La Forge, who began his tenure in 1935, the club endeavored to expand their mission to support young musicians and to foster general interest in classical music.

That same year, La Forge suddenly died onstage at the age of 73 while performing piano at a club event in a Beekman Tower ballroom.

[11] Later known as the Serge and Olga Koussevitzky Young Artist Awards, later recipients have included Jean Kraft (1959), Robert DeGaetano (1969), Paul Neubauer (1982) and François Salque (1994).

[16] The Musicians Club continues administering the Young Artist Awards, and in 2017 inaugurated the Dorothy Indenbaum Women Composers series.