RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra was founded in 1955. The orchestra soon achieved a considerable success by touring extensively throughout Slovenia and abroad; in the years between 1984 and 1985 it performed to great critical acclaim in the USA. The main activity of the orchestra is concert recording. It performs a vast and diverse repertoire, ranging from baroque to modern symphonic music, from operatic music to oratorios and cantatas, from incidental music to film soundtracks, always giving a special emphasis to the creativity of Slovenian composers.

The orchestra has been awarded many prizes for the best performances of new Slovenian compositions. The majority of its recordings are regularly broadcasted in all Slovenian radio and TV programmes, while its domestic and foreign discography is quite extensive (more than 150 CDs). The orchestra regularly tours throughout Europe.

Several conductors led the orchestra since its beginnings like Uroš Prevoršek (1955-1966), Samo Hubad (1966-1980), Stanislav Macura (1980-1981), Anton Nanut (1981-1998), Lior Shambadal (2000-2003) and David de Villiers (2003-2006). In September 2006, excellent Chinese conductor En Shao took the baton of the RTV Slovenia Symphony Orchestra as chief conductor. The arising interest for the orchestra in the past few seasons was mainly due to conductors and soloists such as: En Shao, Ralf Weikert, Walter Proost, Sian Edwards, Rossen Milanov, Angela Gheorghiu, Roberto Alagna, Marcelo Alvarez, Giora Feidman, Dmitri Sitkovetsky, Mischa Maisky, Stefan Milenkovich, Emanuelle Bertrand, Mate Bekavac, Aldo Ciccolini, Radu Lupu, Irena Grafenauer, and Ivo Pogorelich. Recently, the so-called “crossover” projects, a combination of classical music and other musical genres, allowed the orchestra to be renowned by a wider audience. During the last two seasons, the orchestra performed at Music Festival Nomus in Novi Sad, the World Music Days in Zagreb, Festival of Lugano, Festival Gustav Mahler Wochen in Toblach, Belgrade Music Festival (Bemus) and at four concerts in the famous hall Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.