Louis Lombard, a violinist, composer, and conductor who founded the Utica Conservatory of Music, was born in Lyon, France, in 1861. In 1870, Lombard’s parents moved to Marseille, where he began taking classes in violin, solfeggio, and harmony of the National Conservatory of Music. In 1876 he visited the United States on a concert tour, returning to Paris in 1878 to continue his studies. He returned to the U.S. in 1879, traveling as a violin soloist and conductor. In 1886, H. C. Bunner, editor of Puck, wrote the libretto of a comic opera, to which Louis Lombard composed the music. In 1887 he again went abroad, traveling through seventeen countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa. During this time, he studied eight languages and began to compose and conduct music.

Upon his return to the United States in 1888, Lombard began his studies at the Columbia Law School. In February 1889, having proposed opening a conservatory of music in Utica, New York, he secured a large financial guarantee from 100 families. He then gave up the study of law, and on September 2, 1889, opened the Utica Conservatory of Music with six professors and 186 students.

Lombard's works have been published by C. Berdan, Oliver Ditson, Theodore Presser, and E.D. Buckingham. In 1900 he purchased a property in Switzerland where he kept an orchestra in residence and invited visiting musicians to perform. He conducted his personal orchestra as well as orchestras in New York, Paris, Milan, Berlin, Budapest, and Cairo. While living in Switzerland, he also composed and self-published music for orchestras, military bands, string quartets, and piano. From 1916 to 1920 he served as American Vice-Consul in both Zurich and Lugano. He died in 1927.