In an interview at his gracious tree lined home near the waters edge in Indian Harbour Beach, John Marschner, D.D.S., a well known local orthodontist, reminisced about the founding and the early days of the Melbourne Chamber Music Society. He revealed that Ray Weiss, who represented artists and musicians as a booking agent, had the idea of sponsoring world-acclaimed performers at appearances in the greater Melbourne area. Mr. Weiss traveled back and forth between Key West and Europe andalt provided musicians for Civic Music of South Brevard, an earlier group of music lovers.

In the fall of 1977, Mr. Weiss offered to provide the Milliere String Trio from Paris for a group of about 50 of Dr. Marschner's friends, including Gary Hoffmann, Mike Graff, Stonerwall "Stoney" Bird, and Nancy Clew. The concert was such a success, that this group joined with Dr. Marschner in a committee of five to form an organization to raise money for our first paid concert, which was a string quartet. It cost all of $500, and they performed in the spring of 1978.