In 1933, soon after the Harlingen Municipal Auditorium was built, the Rio Grande Valley Civic Music Association formed to bring top-notch entertainment to the area. The roster of performers who have graced the stage of the Harlingen Municipal Auditorium over the decades reads like a who’s who of international and American stars. Paul Robeson, the Von Trapp Family Singers, Mitch Miller, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, and Guy Lombardo are among the more familiar names. In January 1941, the famous pianist, composer, and conductor Sergei Rachmaninoff performed. “America’s Foremost Tenor” boasts the program for Jan Peerce’s 1945 appearance. The yellowing playbill for violin virtuoso Heiftez waxes eloquent on his favorite instruments, a 1731 Stradivarius and a 1742 Guarnerius, which accompanied him on all of his concert tours. There have been ballet and dance troupes, big bands and orchestras, choral groups, vocalists, pianists, folksingers, brass, jazz, and string ensembles, banjo quartets, harpists, harmonica virtuosos, and much, much more