The Radio Symphony Orchestra Vienna evolved from the Great Orchestra of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) in 1969 and ever since has been gaining status as one of the most versatile orchestras in Austria. Since its foundation, the Vienna RSO has concentrated mainly on cultivating contemporary music. Under its chief conductors Milan Horvat, Leif Segerstam, Lothar Zagrosek, Pinchas Steinberg, and Dennis Russell Davies, the ORF Orchestra continued to expand its repertoire to include music from the pre-classical period all the way to the avant-garde. From 2002 on Bertrand de Billy has been Chief Conductor of the Vienna RSO and since autumn 2009 the Hungarian composer and conductor Peter Eötvös has become first guest conductor. Cornelius Meister - currently Music Director in Heidelberg - will take over the Chief Conductor position starting with the season 2010/11.

In addition to its own concert series at the Musikverein and the Konzerthaus in Vienna, the orchestra has been performing regularly at major festivals in Austria and abroad, with particularly strong ties to the Salzburg Festival.
Extensive touring took the Vienna RSO last to Japan, furthermore to the USA, South America and Asia, as well as to many countries throughout Europe. Guest performers of the Vienna RSO have included such famous artists as Leonard Bernstein, Ernest Bour, Andrew Davis, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Gielen, Hans Werner Henze, Ernst Krenek, Bruno Maderna, Krzysztof Penderecki, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Guiseppe Sinopoli, Hans Swarowsky and Jeffrey Tate.