After the NBC Symphony Orchestra radio orchestra was disbanded, many former members in an attempt to stay together and preserve the orchestra regrouped as a new ensemble called the "Symphony of the Air". They made their first recording on September 21, 1954, and gave their first public concert at the United Nations 9th Anniversary Celebration on October 24.

For nearly a decade, the Symphony of the Air performed many concerts led by Stokowski, the orchestra's music director from 1955. The orchestra recorded widely (on Columbia, RCA, United Artists and Vanguard) under leading conductors, including Stokowski, Bernstein, Monteux, Reiner, Bruno Walter, Kondrashin, Beecham, Alfred Wallenstein and Josef Krips. Only once more did they use their old name, the NBC Symphony Orchestra, in the 1963 telecast of Gian Carlo Menotti's written-for television opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, with an all-new cast. The orchestra disbanded in 1963. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.