After its premier concert at the Akdar Theater as the Tulsa Civic Symphony in January 1927, the small orchestra was directed by Berger until 1933, when illness forced him to retire.
George Baum also directed an orchestra under Works Progress Administration funding in the 1930s and 1940s.
Conductors included Vladimir Golschmann (1958–61), Franco Autori (1961–71), Skitch Henderson (1971–74), Thomas Lewis (conductor) (1974–77), Murry Sidlin (1978–80), Joel Lazar (1980–83), Peter Nero (Pops music director, 1983-1994), Bernard Rubenstein (1984–96), and Kenneth Jean (1997-2001).
[1] The orchestra ceased to exist on September 12, 2002, citing "tenuous financial conditions and the negotiation of a new collective bargaining agreement with Local 94, American Federation of Musicians, the union representing the Philharmonic's musicians."
[2] The financial problems of the orchestra were partially a result of the collapse of Enron and Worldcom in 2001, as well as job cuts at Williams, all of which took their toll on Tulsa, and made the Philharmonic unsustainable.