The society was founded in 1884 by John. C. Bridge who was organist at the Cathedral. In December 1883 he organised a performance of the Messiah at the Chester Music Hall to an audience of over 1,000 people. The orchestra consisted of 49 musicians, including six clergymen, and the chorus boasted 180 singers. The organist was the Precentor of the Cathedral, the Rev. C.H. Hylton. The following year saw the formation of the Orchestral Society, which was basically the orchestra that had performed the Messiah the previous year. The first concert included choral works and a performance of Beethoven's "Ruins of Athens". The audience, we are told, was comprised of 422 subscribers and a further 142 who paid at the door. Subscription rates were 'one guinea' for five reserved or eight unreserved tickets for the season.

It is almost impossible to trace the origins of the orchestral players. We know of the existence of several orchestra in the area at the time: The Boughton Orchestra amalgamated with the Chester Orchestral Society in 1890; there was the Royalty Theatre Orchestra which provided players as did the Castle Militia band (whose conductor played the double bass); another band rehearsed at the Bars Hotel under a Frank Tasker. A Mr. Craves and a Mr. Camm also conducted small bands. It is also known that Dr. Bridge engaged the services of professional musicians from the major orchestra. His notebooks contain many references to those players including such comments as "playing too loudly", "poor tone", "drunk all week" and "drunk during The Redemption".

Dr Bridge felt that he could not do justice to both an orchestra and a choral society and so he handed over the orchestral baton to the Cathedral's assistant organist. J.T. Hughes. He remained the orchestra's conductor until 1914 when the Society was disbanded through lack of support.

Subsequently the Society had as its conductor A.J. Armstrong and then after the Second World War the baton passed to E.P. Martin, the former Bandmaster of the Cheshire Regiment. He was followed by R.A. Sutton, Assistant Organist at the Cathedral, then David Lyons, and Roger Fisher, the Cathedral Organist.

Since 1983 the orchestra was privileged to have as its principal conductor and Artistic Advisor Edward Warren and developed a policy of inviting different conductors for one or two concerts each season thus enabling the orchestra to experience different conducting styles and interpretations of music. It was under his direction that the orchestra gained its reputation for being one of the pre-eminent non professional orchestras in the North West. Edward also instigated and has perpetuated the orchestra's links with the Royal Northern College of Music thus providing an experiential platform for young conductors and soloists from the RNCM. As a result the orchestra has had the privilege of being directed by some very notable young conductors including Gary Walker, Baldur Brönnimann, Paul McGrath, Sachio Fujioka and Andrei Danilov. Other conductors have included Martin Milner, Martin Hardy and more recently Patrick Williams all from the Hallé Orchestra. Our current principal conductor and Artistic Advisor is David Chatwin of the BBC Philharmonic.

Based on notes by Peter Jackson