The orchestra of the Zurich Opera House was founded in 1985 following the separation of the long-established Tonhalle and Theater Orchestra. Since 2021, the General Music Director Gianandrea Noseda has been at the helm of the orchestra. His predecessors in artistic leadership include Fabio Luisi, Daniele Gatti, Franz Welser-Möst, and Ralf Weikert. Many renowned conductors have shaped and continue to shape the orchestra’s sound. Among them are artists such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt and Nello Santi, as well as Marc Albrecht, Alain Altinoglu, Marco Armiliato, Riccardo Chailly, Teodor Currentzis, Christoph von Dohnányi, John Eliot Gardiner, Bernard Haitink, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Ingo Metzmacher, and Simone Young.
The repertoire of the Zurich Opera Orchestra encompasses the entire range of orchestral literature from the Baroque era to contemporary music. Each season, it can be heard in around 250 opera and ballet performances. A cycle of symphony concerts and chamber music performances complements the orchestra’s musical diversity.
The “Orchestra La Scintilla”, an original sound ensemble composed of musicians from the Zurich Opera Orchestra, enriches Zurich’s cultural scene with opera performances on historical instruments. It emerged from a long-standing collaboration with Nikolaus Harnoncourt. “Orchestra La Scintilla” has worked with conductors such as Giovanni Antonini, Gianluca Capuano, William Christie, Ottavio Dantone, Emmanuelle Haïm, Thomas Hengelbrock, Riccardo Minasi, and Marc Minkowski.
The Opera Nova ensemble expands the orchestra’s artistic scope in the field of new and contemporary music. From 2012 to 2025, the orchestra performed under the name Philharmonia Zurich. It releases selected operas and concerts, as well as studio recordings, on its own label “Philharmonia Records”, which was founded in 2015.