About the Evergreen Club of the Twin Cities The Evergreen Club, members mostly from the Twin Cities music profession, meets socially twice each year to enjoy an array of interesting programs and one another's company. The Evergreen Club was founded in 1916 by four professional musicians. The initial idea was to maintain a professional and friendly connection between hardworking musicians, music marketers and music teachers. Learn more about Evergreen's nearly 100 year rich history here. Beginning on its 50th anniversary in 1967, The Evergreen Club established the High School Scholarship Program. Evergreen awards scholarships annually to high school senior music students who continue their study of music. Learn more about the Evergreen Scholarships here. The Evergreen Club is a 501c3 nonprofit organization. Donations to Evergreen are tax deductible. Contact information is available here. Members of The Evergreen Club perform regularly throughout the Twin Cities area. Check out performances and events involving members of The Evergreen Club. Want to join? If you have been active in the music business for 20 years in and around the Twin Cities Metropolitan area, contact us to find out how to join Evergreen.
The Evergreen Club and its creation Today, the Evergreen Club is an organization of men and women from the Twin Cities are who have been active in or associated with the musical life on Minneapolis for twenty years or more. "Banded together by ties of friendship," these are individuals of a wide variance of musical backgrounds, from many different walks of life, those who have served the Twin Cities in its musical life. A fair sampling of the kind of people who have been members can be obtained by examining briefly who the Club's nine founders were.
In the beginning The following is a brief overview of Evergreen's beginnings. Refer to Evergreen's History for a more details chronology of the group's existence. First there was Alfred Shuey, a pioneer church organist in the city of Minneapolis. He had also been active in the orchestral life of the city all through the late 1800's, long before the advent of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra in 1903. He conducted the first orchestral performance on record in this city when he arrived here more than one hundred years ago in 1866. Then there was Gustavus Johnson, founder of this city's once illustrious Johnson School of Music. There were also Willard B. Heaht and Frank H. Forbes, both of whom were for a long time active in quartets, church choirs and other vocal organizations in this city. And there were Henry S. Woodruff, a noted church organist and choir director who had been one of the organizers of the Apollo Club, and Willard Patton, another pioneer in the musical life of Minneapolis. He was also noted as a composer and writer of verse. There were Harlow Gale, a cellist and teacher of that instrument who was active in string quartets in his day, and Heinrich Hoevel, a noted violin teacher who also engaged in extensive string ensemble activity in Minneapolis in its early days. Mr. Hoevel had been at one time assistant concertmaster of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra. And last but not least, there was William Mentor Crosse, who had been quite a renowned concert pianist in his day. He was also a noted pedagogue on that instrument and a pioneer school music supervisor in this area. From the preceding it is possible to get some idea of the kind of men who were to follow these early members and to take their places in the Club in the years to follow. these included conductors of the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra (including the founder), and symphony men. Also included were chairmen of the music department (including the founder) at the University of Minnesota and music teachers from there. Included also were music teachers from the MacPhail School of Music and from other schools of music that once existed in this city. Then there were the choir directors, the church organists and those who sang in quartets and church choirs for many years. Numerous men who organized, directed or sang in the Apollo Club have been members. There were also band leaders, high school music teachers, and those who have taught privately just about every instrument in concert and popular use today. There were also those in the Evergreen Club whose professions could certainly be said to be music, even if not the performing or teaching of it. Included among these are musical organization managers, music store owners, music critics, instrument makers, and those of many other professions and businesses which are intimately tied up with music. Also there have been in the Club those whose walk in life has not even been in music as such, yet they have contributed so much to music that the picture would have been incomplete if they had been left out. Among these have been businessmen who have sponsored music financially and civic leaders who have given much of their time and energy toward the cause of music in this community. From all of this, some insight can be gathered as to just what kind of club the Evergreen Club really is. Established in 1916 at an informal gathering of the above-mentioned founders, after an evening dinner at the old Schiek's Restaurant, it was decided at that time that the Club should be informal in nature. Although the Club has taken on some formal traits since then, the central purpose has always been the same, an annual renewal of friendship at a dinner held for the members near the end of the year. This annual banquet, at which the members gathered to tell stories, renew friendships, sing songs and cut "capers," has always been the primary and almost the only activity of the Club. When one examines what each one of these men had done for the community on an individual basis, he can immediately see that this is the only activity really necessary for a club of this type, as was the intention of the founders. In this way alone, the Club contributes a valuable asset to community life, a perpetual friendship and understanding in the lives of its musical leaders. The Club song, the "Evergreen Song," by Willard Patton, is sung together by the members at the meetings as well as "Friendship" by Hoesche after solemn remembrances of deceased members. The Club is also treated to a special session of musical entertainment at all meetings. One of the Club's time-honored customs of informality is that a "speech" given by one of the members may be interrupted at any time. At the closing of the meetings, all join hands and sing "Auld Lang Syne."