Nellie Melba traveled to Europe in 1886 to commence her international career as an opera singer. She became among the best-known Australians of the period and participated in early gramophone-recording and radio-broadcasting. The establishment of choral societies ( 1850) and of symphony orchestras ( 1890) led to increased compositional activity, although many Australian classical composers worked entirely within European models. Popular works such as Percy Grainger's "Country Gardens" (1918) were heavily influenced by the folk music of other countries and by a conservative British orchestral tradition.