"At 7:00 pm on the 15th day of January 1958, eleven musical enthusiasts - eight men and three women, met in the Card Room of the Selangor Club and proposed the formation of the Philharmonic Society. The Society then proposed that the eight male members serve on the pro-tem committee and, there being no further nominations they were duly elected."

Thus began The Phil. With an initial sum of $179.44 in the bank and the noble aim of staging musical performances and encouraging the arts, the Society put on its first production - Gilbert and Sullivan's "The Mikado", at the British Council. Running from 21st to 26th July 1958, admission was $1 and The Phil donated the profit of $400 towards buying an oboe to be presnted to the Police Band.

The aims of encouraging the arts and distributing profits to charitable causes are enshrined in the Constitution and the Rules of the Society. Although the records are lost in the mists of time, it is believed that many thousands of dollars have been disbursed to charitable causes.

Read a letter from one of our earliest members HERE!