The vision of Mrs. W.C. Windsor and efforts of members of the Music Committee of the Tyler Women's Forum culminated in the creation of the Tyler Symphony Orchestra; first performing in March, 1936. A four-concert season, under the direction of three successive conductors, was presented each year until the group disbanded during the Second World War. Community leaders whose ranks included Mrs. Varina G. Powell, a Tyler Symphony violinist, and Roger A. Harris, manager of the Chamber of Commerce, revived orchestra operations in 1950.

Joseph Kirshbaum of the North Texas State University music faculty was named resident conductor, successfully leading and promoting the Symphony's growth until his retirement in 1978.

Reflecting the region from which it drew both musicians and audience, the Orchestra was renamed the East Texas Symphony Orchestra in 1954. Orchestra operations have grown from a budget of $25,000 to a current budget of approximately $900,000, administered by a management team of an Executive Director, a Finance Director, an Administrative Director, and a Marketing Director. Orchestra personnel are now an ensemble of professional musicians from East Texas and the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex area.

Community support for the ETSO has always been vigorous and broad based. Since its inception in 1955, the Women's Symphony League of Tyler, Inc. has remained the most significant contributor to the annual operating budget. In 1951 Maestro Kirshbaum established the Children's Concerts for elementary students from area public and parochial schools. This series, known as the School Concerts, remains a major service effort of the Women's Symphony League and a revered artistic mission of the East Texas Symphony Orchestra. Multiple performances offer the opportunity to experience live symphonic music for approximately 5,000 fifth and sixth grade students.

In 1994, targeting an even younger audience as part of its music education commitment, the Orchestra inaugurated its first KinderKonzert, renamed the Family Concert in 2004, for families with pre-school and early elementary age children. (The ETSO's production of Zin! Zin! Zin! A Violin won first place in Education at the Texas Association for Symphony Orchestras Conference in 2004.) Following the concert the families attend the popular "Meet the Instruments" reception.

In the fall of 1986 park concerts were initiated. The fall park concert has traditionally been an official event of the Texas Rose Festival. Enthusiastic community response prompted the addition of a second park concert in the spring of 1990; currently, each now is presented as budgeting permits. "Noon Notes," an interactive and lively dialogue with the ETSO Music Director, was first offered in the 1993-94 season to spotlight concert repertoire, the lives and times of composers, and ‘listening tips' for the concert. This lunch hour forum occurs on Friday before each subscription concert. A second educational ‘lecture' was first offered in the 1999-2000 season with UTT/TJC faculty member Jim Yancy as lecturer. Held in the UTT Opera classroom, just prior to the evening subscription concerts at the Cowan Center, it offers additional scheduling flexibility for patrons.

Open rehearsals, another community-driven innovation, occur on the afternoon before a subscription concert, and draw senior citizens and families with young children needing a less formal setting. This aspect of the Orchestra's community engagement efforts has earned recognition by the Texas Association for Symphony Orchestras (TASO) and by the American Symphony Orchestra League (ASOL).

The 1997-1998 symphony season premiered in the R. Don Cowan Fine and Performing Arts Center at the University of Texas at Tyler. In acknowledgment of the strong commitment of the Caldwell Family to young people and to music education, the Young People's Series is produced in Caldwell Auditorium. The auditorium is now a part of the TISD Caldwell Elementary Arts Academy.

In 1999-2000, the ETSOA began "Meet the Masters," a creative innovative introduction to classical music for elementary students of Tyler Independent School District. The program has now grown into the Musical Tool Box program offered on a teacher request basis for in-classroom use as integrated curriculum. Students participating in the program are encouraged to attend Open Rehearsals. The Science of Sound Program in collaboration with Young Audiences and The Discovery Science Place, was initiated in 2003-2004. Now in its fourth year, this integrated curriculum for fifth grade students explores the physics of what they hear in classical music while learning a greater appreciation of "making music."

The East Texas Symphony Orchestra Association is guided by a dynamic and diverse governance board which fosters the growth and development of the Orchestra to keep pace with the needs of the community. A significant aspect of the Board's role in this endeavor is development of new long-term corporate relationships. By so doing, the Association reaffirms its commitment to make live symphonic music a vital part of the future in East Texas, opening new doorways and providing a key to universal communication.

The 2002 naming of Music Director/Conductor Per Brevig, recognized both nationally and internationally, had forecasted potential growth and community engagement; now being accomplished. The 2006-2007 season will feature the performance of the first concerto for Symphony and Mariachi, partially underwritten by the National Endowment for the Arts. ETSO continues to strive to bring live performance of classical music to a broader segment of our community.