“IT seems as if the new band will catch on.”

That was the verdict of a reporter after Dan Godfrey conducted the first performance of his Bournemouth Band on May 22, 1893.

More than a century later, the band – now the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra – enjoys a reputation around the world.

On Saturday, May 18, chart-topping violinist Nicola Benedetti will join the orchestra under conductor Kirill Karabits to mark its 120th anniversary.

They will recreate the programme from that first performance – including Wagner’s Tannhauser Overture, Jupiter from Holst’s Planets and Tchaikovsky’s Second Symphony.

Much of the orchestra’s history is recorded in thousands of documents, photographs and items of memorabilia stored in Bournemouth Library, a selection of which is now on display to the public in an exhibition.

Among the collection are 13 scrapbooks kept by Sir Dan Godfrey, in which he kept everything from Echo clippings to records of an appendectomy.

“Dan Godfrey kept everything. He kept press cuttings, letters, photographs, programmes,” said Barry Meehan, senior librarian responsible for music at Bournemouth Library.

Other items in the collection include a baton belonging to another great BSO conductor, Charles Groves, and a top hat that Godfrey is thought to have worn when he received his knighthood.

Godfrey, who presided over 30 musicians when he founded his band, conducted more than 2,000 symphony concerts over the 41 years until his retirement in 1934. Two thousand mourners attended his funeral at St Peter’s Church in 1939.

Under his leadership, the orchestra made its first trips to London (playing at Crystal Palace as part of the Festival of Empire in 1911), released its first records (78rpm recordings on the HMV label in 1914) and gave its first concerts on local and national radio.

He also brought some of the giants of classical music to Bournemouth. Edward Elgar conducted a programme of his own music in 1908 and gave his last concert in 1926. In 1910, a concert for the town’s centenary brought together Edward Elgar, Hubert Parry, Charles Villiers Stanford, Edward German and Alexander Mackenzie. Jean Sibelius, Gustav Holst, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Henry Wood, William Walton, Thomas Beecham and Adrian Boult also visited to conduct during Godfrey’s time.

Godfrey’s legacy was huge, but his successors as principal conductor also made history. Rudolf Schwarz became musical director in 1947 and brought national renown with tours and festival appearances, including two concerts for the Festival of Britain.

Charles Groves and Constantin Silvestri built on his achievements. Andrew Litton became the youngest conductor of the BSO and its first American in 1988, and in 2002 the American Marin Alsop became the first woman to be principal conductor of a British symphony orchestra.

The orchestra has weathered several financial crises and changes in venues – over the years it has seen out two Winter Gardens concert halls, taken up residence at Poole’s Lighthouse and taken up touring around the region and the country.

Its education programme has introduced a generation of children to classical music, and even in straitened economic times it has attracted record audiences for outdoor fireworks concerts.

As that early report predicted, the “band” has caught on. And the Band Plays On – an exhibition celebrating 120 years of the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, runs until July 13 at Bournemouth Library, during library opening hours. For details, visit bournemouth.gov.uk /libraries or call 01202 454845.