Atlanta Music Festival Association (AMFA) originated as the Atlanta Orchestra Association in 1903 and changed its name to Atlanta Music Festival Association in 1905. The Metropolitan Opera of New York performed in Atlanta beginning in 1901, and AMFA sponsored the performances beginning in 1910. It remained the opera's sponsor until 1930 when the Metropolitan Opera national tour stopped during the Great Depression. The Atlanta Music Club brought the opera back to Atlanta in 1940 and sponsored the event between 1940-1942 until the tour halted again during World War II. In 1947 the Metropolitan Opera returned to Atlanta under the auspices of the Atlanta Music Festival Association with support from the Junior League of Atlanta. The final year of the Metropolitan Opera national tour to Atlanta was 1986.

With the end of the Metropolitan Opera national tour the AMFA provided financial support to the Atlanta Opera. The Atlanta Opera received increased financial and public support once it was no longer competing with the New York Metropolitan Opera tour. Grants from the Atlanta Music Festival Association supported the Atlanta Opera following the end of the Met tour. AMFA also supported the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra's Great Performers Series. In 1989 the trustees of AMFA publicly announced a plan to distribute the earned income on its assets of $1.2 million. The earned income of $70,000 was distributed between the Atlanta Opera Company, the Georgia State University Summer Opera Workshop, the Metropolitan Opera Association, regional auditions of the Metropolitan Opera, and a discretionary fund of the AMFA board. The AMFA's assets were turned over to the Metropolitan Atlanta Community Foundation to be accessible if the Metropolitan Opera were to resume a national tour in the future.