FALLBROOK -- To hear those who were involved from the beginning tell it, the first concerts organized by the Fallbrook Music Society were surprising treasures, full symphony performances held in a town no one suspected of having so much culture.

While symphonies in Fallbrook are no longer a novelty, many still treasure the annual concert series organized by the music society, which is celebrating its 30th season.

The society has brought dozens of orchestras, troupes and solo artists to Fallbrook from urban centers near and far, using volunteers to organize concerts and donations to pay for them.

With three decades of symphony and chamber concerts under its belt, music society members last week looked back on what has made the society an integral part of Fallbrook's culture, and projected what the future may hold.

"People used to have to go to San Diego to hear a symphony orchestra," said Brenda Montiel, the society's president and a long-time student of music. "Most people cannot believe that we have professional concerts here in Fallbrook, because we're a community of only 40,000 people. We bring in major performances."

It has been that way since the beginning, say those who were involved with the society since its inception in 1977.

Wilma Fellows remembers when the society's first president, Orville Evans, organized the first symphony concerts at Bowers Auditorium at Potter Junior High School.

"I was always interested in music," said Fellows, who served as president after Evans retired and is now the society's historian, adding that to see classical music performed in Fallbrook was "thrilling."

Matthew Garbutt, a musician and conductor for the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, said he remembers playing in Fallbrook as early as 1978.

"We thought it was really a great thing, that the community would want to have the orchestra up there," said Garbutt. "There was always a great turnout, and it seemed to be very organized, right from the very beginning."

He said he appreciates the music society's efforts to bring live music to Fallbrook.

"I know that the orchestra feels good about being able to do outreach like this, where we can get out into other parts of the community," he said. "They've always treated us really, really well. It's really quite fun, actually."

Making it happen

It isn't cheap to hire a 100-plus member orchestra to perform, and while officials would not provide exact figures, the society raises enough money for 10 performances each year through ticket sales and donations.

In the early days, Fellows recalled, the only form of private donation was the "C-Note" club, a clever name for the group of donors who would contribute $100 a year to the society.

Montiel said that during the first season, a group of volunteers "called every household in the Fallbrook directory during a period of two months, and raised the money that they needed."

After raising enough money to pay the orchestras, the next biggest hurdle was locating a venue.

Organizers quickly decided on Bowers Auditorium. These days, all the shows not held at The Grand Tradition during the summer take place at the Bob Burton Performing Arts Center, which was built at Fallbrook High School in 2000.

"The acoustics were very good in Bowers, but nothing like what we have in the Bob Burton Center," Montiel said. "We can hear each of the instruments very clearly in the Bob Burton Center."

Montiel said the society has an endowment fund worth about $1.7 million, an insurance policy to make sure orchestral music stays a part of Fallbrook's culture for years to come.

"We need to sustain the mission of the organization, but even more importantly, we need to secure the vision … that music will always remain a central focus here in Fallbrook," she said.

The 'bonding experience'

The idea of bringing symphony performances to Fallbrook may seem far-out to some, but Montiel said residents should be able to benefit from the beauty and inspiration of quality music without needing to travel long distances.

"When you hear good music that is played exceptionally well, it changes you," she said. "Music lifts you up above the daily chores of our existence, if it's done well.

"This bonding experience is so important for a community, and we experience that at our concerts," Montiel continued. "It's a wonderful couple of hours to share with people who want to be enriched by the works of our composers."

At a recent concert at The Grand Tradition, for example, the San Diego Symphony Orchestra performed for more than 1,000 people, many of whom have come to regard the summer "Concert on the Green" as a tradition.

"We have wonderful centers for the fine arts here in Fallbrook, and the music aspect complements that very well," said Montiel. "Music documents, in sound, the emotional life of man, and is an enriching experience, as it leads us to understand history and our cultural traditions. That's very important. Most of the time, people have to go to large urban centers to hear the kind of music we bring to Fallbrook."

History and the future

Fellows said she remembers that Evans' idea of contracting major symphony orchestras for shows in Fallbrook was unheard of.

"He wrote to all the big symphonies -- Chicago, New York, Philadelphia -- and said, 'Are there any other small communities, like ours, that contract a symphony orchestra for a season,' and they all wrote back and said no, there was no such thing," said Fellows. "I so respected Orville Evans and what he did."

Fellows was tasked with keeping the organization afloat when Evans retired in 1985, a responsibility that she said was not made easier by the fact that Evans did not have much of a system in place.

"I met with him and said, 'Orville, what did you think, when you just resigned like that?' " Fellows recalled. "And he said, 'I thought, if it were a viable idea, it would prevail.' And I thought to myself, 'Well, by golly, it's going to prevail, if I have anything to do with it.' "

Today, the society is stronger than ever.

"When Brenda took over, it just raised us up to a whole new level, I think," said Fellows. "We've really been blessed."

The society also plans to extend its reach to children with school programs.

Montiel said that while every performance brings something new to the stage, she remembers one in particular, when there were 200 musicians performing Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, which she described as "one of the greatest works of musical literature."

"It moved everyone in the theater," Montiel said. "At the end, I could hear people saying, 'I can't believe we could have this concert in Fallbrook.' "

Contact staff writer Tom Pfingsten at (760) 740-3516 or tpfingsten@nctimes.com.