Founded in 1946, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra has had especially important partners in principal conductor Carlo Zecchi as well as guest conductors Yehudi Menuhin and Sándor Végh. More recently, artistic directors have included Philippe Entremont (Honorary Conductor for Life), Ernst Kovacic and Christoph Eberle. Joji Hattori is Associate Guest Conductor of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Constant cooperation has started in 2004.

Heinrich Schiff was appointed artistic director of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in 2005. Although he was unfortunately obliged, due to health reasons, to resign this position in 2008, he will continue to lead the orchestra in concerts planned for the future.

Some of the highlights with Heinrich Schiff were cycles of the complete cycle of Beethoven Symphonies in 2006 and Schubert Symphonies in 2008/09 given in The Vienna Konzerthaus and in 2009 at the George Enescu Festival Bukarest.

In May 2008, Stefan Vladar was appointed Artistic Director of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Two major projects will take place in 2009/2010 under his baton: A series of Mendelssohn/Beethoven concerts in The Vienna Konzerthaus and a cycle of Mozart Piano Concerti in Vienna's Operahouse "The Theater an der Wien". The orchestra will tour Germany in Fall 2010.

Cooperation with the conductors Heinz Holliger, Sir Neville Marriner, Adam Fischer and Rudolf Barshai always held special significance to the orchestra. The list of prominent conductors, singers and soloists proves once again the international standing of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra: Piotr Anderszewski, Martha Argerich, Lidia Baich, Cecilia Bartoli, Elena Bashkirova, Elisabeth Batiashvili, Teresa Berganza, Ian Bostridge, Rudolf Buchbinder, Joseph Calleja, Thomas Carroll, Gianluca Cascioli, Frédéric Chaslin, Karel Mark Chichon, Richard Egarr, Adrian Eröd, Daniela Fally, Isabelle Faust, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Ingrid Fliter, Reinhold Friedrich, Hélène Grimaud, Edita Gruberova, Friedrich & Paul Gulda, Theodor Guschlbauer, Clemens & Veronika Hagen, Viviane Hagner, Lynn Harrell, Janine Jansen, Kiri Te Kanawa, Angelika Kirchschlager, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, François Leleux, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Oleg Maisenberg, Xavier de Maistre, Viktoria Mullova, Anna Netrebko, Gianandrea Noseda, Ernst Ottensamer, Emmanuel Pahud, Vasily Petrenko, Günter Pichler, Thomas Quasthoff, Julian Rachlin, John Relyea, Vadim Repin, Fazil Say, Benjamin Schmid, Peter Schmidl, David Stern, Richard Stoltzman, Antoine Tamestit, Uto Ughi, Maxim Vengerov, Stefan Vladar, Radovan Vlatkovic, Jörg Widmann, Hanna & Bruno Weinmeister and Thomas Zehetmair. The Orchestra continuously appears with The Arnold Schoernberg Choir, The Wiener Singakademie, die Vienna Chamber Choir and the Wiener Sängerknaben and also with The Hamburg Ballet.

In addition to its subscription series Matinees and International Prizewinners at the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra makes guest appearances there in the Symphonie Classique and Voices series in the Great Hall. Furthermore, the orchestra is a welcome guest at festivals and concert halls around the world: recently at the Beethoven Festival in Bonn, in the Cologne Philharmony, the Munich Philharmony, at the George Enescu Festival, the Eisenstadt Haydn Festival and the Linz Bruckner Festival.

The international renown of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra is reflected in its frequent tours to Japan, China, Taiwan, Korea, the USA and South America, among others, and its regular appearances in practically every major city in Europe.

Updated: February 2011