Since its first performance in 1861, the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) has grown into a thriving urban arts center for global, national, and New York-based performing arts and film. The first BAM facility at 176-194 Montague Street in Brooklyn Heights provided the Philharmonic Society of Brooklyn with a home for its concerts. BAM presented amateur and professional music and theater productions, including performers such as Ellen Terry, Edwin Booth, Tomas Salvini, and Fritz Kreisler.