Walter Damrosch (1862-1950), from Breslau, Poland, immigrated to the US with his father Leopold and family in 1871. He was devoted to music even as a child, and at age 22 (1884) became assistant conductor (to his father) of the NY Metropolitan Opera. When Leopold suddenly died in 1885, Walter became conductor of the Met and his father’s Oratorio Society and NY Symphony Society (which would merge with the Philharmonic in 1928). Among his accomplishments, he convinced Andrew Carnegie to build Carnegie Hall (1891), conducted the world premiere of Amy Beach’s Eilende Wolken, Segler der Lüfte (1892), and commissioned George Gershwin’s Concerto in F (1925) and American in Paris (1928). He became nationally known not only through his “whistle-stop” touring, but with the advent of radio, he developed one of the country’s first on-air music appreciation programs. He was active as a composer for his entire life. Three of his four operas were written during the long nineteenth century, as were several sets of incidental music.