Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia Fraternity of America (colloquially known as Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, Phi Mu Alpha, or simply Sinfonia) () is an American collegiate social fraternity for men with a special interest in music. The fraternity is open to men "who, through a love for music, can assist in the fulfillment of [its] Object and ideals either by adopting music as a profession, or by working to advance the cause of music in America." Phi Mu Alpha has initiated more than 260,000 members, known as Sinfonians, and the fraternity currently has over 7,000 active collegiate members in 249 collegiate chapters throughout the United States. Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia was founded as the Sinfonia Club at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Massachusetts on October 6, 1898, by Ossian Everett Mills, bursar of the conservatory. Exactly two years later, on October 6, 1900, a delegation of members from the Sinfonia Club visited the Broad Street Conservatory of Music in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a group of students there petitioned to form a chapter of the club, thus establishing the organization as a national fraternity. By 1901, two additional chapters had been formed and the 1st National Convention was held in Boston to establish a national constitution. On the national level, Phi Mu Alpha operates independently from any of the major governing councils for collegiate fraternities in the United States such as the North American Interfraternity Conference (IFC), though it is a member of other interfraternal organizations such as the Association of Fraternity Advisors, the Fraternity Communications Association, and the National Interfraternity Music Council. Individual chapters may take part in campus-level IFC governance if required by the institution. The organization's national headquarters are located at Lyrecrest, an estate on the northern outskirts of Evansville, Indiana. Membership in Phi Mu Alpha is divided into four classes: probationary, collegiate, alumni, and honorary. Probationary members are those who are participating in an educational program of between four and twelve weeks in length in preparation for initiation as full, active collegiate members. Collegiate members transfer to alumni membership after they graduate or otherwise leave the university while in good standing with the fraternity. Honorary membership can be bestowed under guidelines established by the fraternity's national constitution; many prominent musicians and patrons of music such as Aaron Copland, Duke Ellington, and Andrew Carnegie are honorary Sinfonians. The fraternity has local, regional, and national levels of