Ann C. Roberts Orchestra Festival

  In 1990 the Galveston Isle Orchestra Festival began as the Galveston Isle Choral Festival ended it's run.  At that time, Eddie Quaid ended his association with the festival and passed the "baton" on to Ann Roberts, his co-founder and operator of the festival.  Her operation of the festival has continued to the present day.  The first couple of years of the festival was held at the historic Hotel Galvez.  A few short years later the festival moved to Galveston Ball High School.   In 2004 the new Dobie High School was finished and the festival was moved there.
     Tanner Ledford has been involved as Stage Manager since 1991, first as Ann's student at Cy-Fair HS and presently as Director of Orchestras at Klein Oak HS.  Over the years the festival has grown in size now averaging around 33 performing groups.  It has earned the reputation of being one of the few all orchestra festivals with all string judges and the longest running all orchestra festival in Texas.  Over the years the festival is fortunate to have had the adjudication expertise of Karrell Johnson from it's inception.  Royce Coatney joined him in 2000 and Dr. Michael Alexander was added in 2013, completing this slate of highly qualified judges.  Past judges have included Dr. Carol Smith, Carold Nunez, Noe Marmelejo, Penny Meitz, George Tate, Amanda Musser, Keith Markuson.  In 2010, on the festival's 20th anniversary, Ann Roberts officially handed over the festival to Tanner Ledford.  In 2015, the festival was officially re-named after it's founder Ann Roberts.