 The musicians whom Clark called were mainly from Southern California's deep base of professional freelance musicians who performed in the area's movie studios, universities, and other regional performing arts organizations; as a result, many of these musicians were former concertmasters, associate concertmasters, and principal players with prominent orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Detroit Symphony, and Los Angeles Philharmonic.Clark became the orchestra's first Music Director and the first orchestra personnel manager was Robert F "Peeps" Peterson.The orchestra had its first performance in December 1979 at the Plummer Auditorium in Fullerton, with Clark on the podium.