[1] The Second Oklahoma Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1938 with Ralph Asher Rose, Jr. (1911–1984) conducting the inaugural season.

He grew up in Bayside, New York, studied with Michael Press, and at Curtis beginning at age 12, then at Juilliard.

[2] During the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s, under conductors Victor Alessandro and Guy Fraser Harrison (1894–1986),[3] the Oklahoma Symphony attained national and international rank on several levels, helped by a regular series of radio broadcasts on the Mutual Broadcasting System and the Voice of America for American troops abroad.

[6][7] In September 2001, the OKC Philharmonic opened its season in the newly renovated Civic Center Music Hall.

[8] In addition to a complete interior renovation, the new music hall included a multistory atrium, improved acoustics and a hydraulic orchestra pit.