In 1966, two music lovers decided to do something about the lack of classical music on Guam.

So they called a meeting saying they were “going to have a symphony society.”

Through the efforts of these women--Madeleine Z. Bordallo and the late Carmen Dela Cruz--a group was mustered, and in early 1967 the Guam Symphony Society was born.

And classical music on the island was reborn. For this was not the first time a symphony and supporting symphony society had existed on Guam. The original Guam Symphony Orchestra had its first concert on November 27, 1950. It was formed of students from the Guam Academy of Music. The conductor of the group was Redentor Romero, a faculty member of the Academy.

Enthusiasm for this group led to the formation of the Guam Fine Arts Society and to a new island-wide Guam Symphony Orchestra, which premiered on Dec. 3, 1951. A second concert on April 28, 1952 was a rousing success.

But then Romero left the island and the symphony disbanded.

The Society continued to offer trios and quartets, but the interest in a symphony had waned. Eventually, the society itself became dormant. Mrs. Dela Cruz and Mrs. Bordallo were well aware of the odds against them when they began the Guam Symphony Society. They knew the level of interest in classical music on the island. Mrs. Dela Cruz and her husband were the owners of the Guam Academy of Music. And Mrs. Bordallo--when she was still Miss Zeien--had been the concert mistress of the original orchestra.

But the new Symphony Society had something the old one had lacked: the leadership of Mrs. Bordallo.
“I’m rather persistent,” Mrs. Bordallo said. “We had meetings on the second floor of the Academy. I would do the coffee and beverages; she (Mrs. Dela Cruz) would do the sandwiches and sweets. “I’d be lugging an urn down there from Yona and only three or four people would show up. But I never gave up.”
Bordallo knew that if the group fizzled, it would be very difficult to get it going again. So she kept at it. She enlisted the support of the University of Guam music department. She begged people to come to the concerts.
“Not many (came),” said Dr. Catherine Aguon, one of the founding board members. “Mostly family members who wanted to accommodate us, even if they had to sleep through it.”
The big break for the society came in the early 1970s, Mrs. Bordallo said, when violinist Isaac Stern came to Guam. Lacking a performing arts center, the concert was held at the Hafa Adai Theater in Tamuning, which was the largest auditorium with air conditioning on the island.

Mrs. Bordallo recalled the utter pandemonium of the event: Everything for the concert was arranged, except for the piano. The University owned a concert grand, but refused to move it for the performance. At the last minute, Mark Pangelinan agreed to loan the Society his grand piano, which was moved to the theater on the back of a flatbed.

The piano desperately needed tuning. As the crowd gathered, the piano tuner did his job on the stage as the theater loudspeakers played popular music. When Stern arrived backstage all dressed in his tails, there were no chairs and no water. Mrs. Bordallo scurried about to solve these problems as the piano tuner continued his plink-plink-plink on stage and the crowd chomped on popcorn the theater management had sold.

Finally, the piano was ready and the crowd--except for some thoughtless popcorn eaters in the front row--had quieted down. As Stern drew his bow across the strings, photographers stood and flashed their cameras. The virtuoso stopped dead. He pointed at the offenders with his bow and said, “OUT. NO PICTURES!” He then leaned forward, spoke to the people with the popcorn, and began again.
“When he played his first notes, the sound was so smooth, like velvet,” Mrs. Bordallo said, “it was very inspiring.”
The concert was a success. Other guest artists followed, and the Symphony Society continued its quest to bring classical music to the island and raise funds for a civic auditorium.

Mrs. Bordallo served as president of the group for nine years, turning over the leadership to Mrs. Dela Cruz in 1975. She again served on the Board of Directors from 1990 to 1993.
Since Bordallo’s tenure as president, the Guam Symphony Society and its sponsored organizations, the Guam Symphony Orchestra and Chorale, have seen good and bad times.
The Symphony itself saw great growth under the direction of Milton Crotts, from 1984 until 1999. But even under Crotts, the Symphony was augmented by off-island musicians.
Since 2000, when Dr. Stephen Bednarzyk became Music Director and Conductor, fewer off-island musicians have been used. Music programs in the public and private schools are growing and are adding to the talent pool. Several string players from the orchestra have private students. The orchestra is now entirely home-grown.

“That was our dream,” Mrs. Bordallo said. “Those who founded it would have liked to know it has continued over the years, and that students (have) followed music as a career. “I’m so pleased that it’s still going,” she said. “I would like to see it continue.”