Founded in April 1968 it was originally known as the Manoel Theatre Orchestra. It was the orchestra in residence at the homonymous theatre and regularly performed operas and symphonic concerts under the direction of its resident conductors Joseph Sammut (1968-1992) and Michael Laus (1992-1997).

In September 1997 the orchestra became an independent body and was officially named as the National Orchestra of Malta. Ten years later, Orchestra was given the go ahead to start the process to augment its musicians complement to Philharmonic levels. The Malta Philharmonic Orchestra or Orkestra Filarmonika Nazzjonali in Maltese was launched on the 12th January, 2008, on the occasion of the official Euro change-over celebration concert marking Malta’s entry into the Eurozone.

The Orchestra’s extensive calendar of events consists mainly of symphonic concerts at the Manoel Theatre, the Mediterranean Conference Centre and other venues apart from opera productions in Malta and Gozo as well as abroad. Since January 2005 various projects were taken assiduously to tackle our musicians’ performing standards. Co-operation programs with foreign orchestras were initiated which led to various learning and cultural exchanges. In August 2006 the members from the string sections of the Orchestra teamed up with the Brno Philharmonic Orchestra through EU’s Leonardo Mobility Project which enabled a number of our string musicians to join one of the world’s top orchestras in workshops and two concerts held at the Spilberk 2006 Festival in Brno, Czech Republic, under the direction of Petr Altrichter and Leos Svarovsky respectively.

Among the many distinguished conductors and soloists who have performed with the Orchestra one can mention Peter Stark, Charles Olivieri-Munroe, Paolo Ponziano Ciardi, Rene Clement, Brian Schembri, Eugeme Kohn, Jonathan Butcher, Alexander Rudin, Sergei Glavatsky, David Campbell, Roberto Cominati, Andrea Griminelli, Igor Ardasev, Carmine Lauri, Lukas Vondracek, Mats Rondin, Cecilia Gasdia, Ghena Dimitrova, Miriam Gauci, Joseph Calleja, Andrea Bocelli, Jose` Carreras, Kate Aldrich, Daniela Dessi, Fabio Armiliato and the Royal Choral Society of London. The Orchestra is a predominant exponent of Maltese composers and one of its ambitions is to promote Maltese compositions beyond our shores and make them known to important international music centres as well as to a wider public around the world.