The Fort Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra was a Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

 based symphony orchestra founded in 1949 by high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 band director John Canfield. The orchestra developed from an amateur group to a semi-professional orchestra with Emerson Buckley

Emerson Buckley

Emerson Buckley An American Orchestral conductor born in New York City. Buckley graduated from Columbia University in 1934 and made his conducting debut that same year at age 20...

 at the helm in 1963. In 1985, the orchestra merged with the Boca Raton Symphony Orchestra

Boca Raton Symphony Orchestra

The Boca Raton Symphony Orchestra was a Boca Raton, Florida based chamber orchestra founded in 1983 by Paul McRae, the principal trumpet with the Fort Lauderdale Symphony Orchestra...

 in 1985 to form the Philharmonic Orchestra of Florida

Florida Philharmonic Orchestra

The Florida Philharmonic Orchestra was a symphony orchestra based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and serving the South Florida metropolitan area...

, which would later be renamed the Florida Philharmonic, and would serve the South Florida metropolitan area until its financial collapse in 2003.