Performance history by decade · 1940s 

During our time as the Portland Music Commission, the Portland Concert Association, and PCA Great Performances, we have brought many of history’s greatest performing artists to Maine. In this section, we have compiled a list, believed complete, of each season’s artist roster. Use the links below to navigate the list by decade.

  • 1939–40

    • Bruna Castagna
    • Jooss Ballet
    • Simon Barere
    • Barrère Little Symphony
    • Gregor Piatigorsky & Igor Gorin

  • 1940–41

    • Yehudi Menuhin
    • Dorothy Maynor
    • Eugene List
    • National Symphony Orchestra
      Hans Kindler, conductor

  • 1941–42

    • Don Cossacks
    • Richard Crooks
    • Adolf Busch
    • Rudolf Serkin
    • National Symphony Orchestra
      Hans Kindler, conductor
      Moissaye Boguslawski, piano
    • Rose Bampton
    • Lansing Hatfield

  • 1942–43

    • Helen Traubel
    • National Symphony Orchestra
      Hans Kindler, conductor
    • Zino Francescatti
    • Vladimir Horowitz
    • Julius Huehn

  • 1943–44

    • Columbia All-Star Opera Quartet
    • Boston Symphony Orchestra
      Serge Koussevitzky, conductor
    • William Kapell
    • Eleanor Steber
    • William Primrose

  • 1944–45

    • National Symphony Orchestra
      Hans Kindler, conductor
      Zadel Skolovsky, piano
    • Bidú Sayao
    • Rudolf Serkin
    • Zino Francescatti
    • Mona Paulee & Charles Kullman

  • 1945–46

    • Indianapolis Symphony
      Fabien Sevitzky, conductor
      Marisa Regulesand, piano
    • Jean Watson
    • James Melton
    • Ezio Pinza
    • Nikolai & Joanna Graudans

  • 1946–47

    • Rochester Symphony,
      Erich Leinsdorf, conductor
      Artur Rubinstein, piano
    • Christopher Lynch
    • Dorothy Kirsten & Tossy Spivakovsky
    • Busch Little Symphony,
      Adolf Busch, conductor

  • 1947–48

    • Minneapolis Symphony,
      Dimitri Mitropoulos, conductor,
      Vitya Vronsky & Victor Babin, pianists
    • Maryla Jonas
    • Leonard Warren
    • Yehudi Menuhin
    • Nadine O’Connor

  • 1948–49

    • New York Philharmonic
      Leopold Stokowski, conductor
    • DePaur’s Infantry Chorus
    • Eileen Farrell
    • Eugene List & Carroll Glenn
    • Mario Lanza
    • Byron Janis