Born in Stuttgart, Germany in 1873, Albert Kaeser migrated to Australia sometime prior to 1890 when he began playing trombone in the Sandgate Town Band. In 1906, he a opened music shop on George Street in Brisbane. In 1919, Kaeser founded the Brisbane Citizens' Band, now known as the St John Ambulance Concert Band. He began conducting the Ithaca Orchestral Society in 1925 and continued as principal conductor with the group until it disbanded in 1951, at which time it was known as the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra.