The UNSW Orchestra was founded in 1989 to bring the live performance of fine music to the University community and to the many people who live in the surrounding suburbs.

The Orchestra was established by three undergraduate students, Jan Howe, Richard Pulley and Emery Schubert, with guidance from Professor Roger Covell of the (then) School of Music and Music Education and was initially funded by a grant from the (then) Vice Chancellor, Professor Michael Birt. The vitality of the Orchestra today owes much to all these founders’ vision and caring.

The Orchestra's first concert took place on 15 August 1989, and on 14 May 2010 it gave its 100th public performance.

There are, at any one time, about 65 players in the Orchestra. Additional guest players are brought in as the need arises, usually for the rarer instruments such as bass clarinet, contrabassoon, harp and celeste, or when a large-scale symphonic work is on the program.

Almost 1000 UNSW students, staff and alumni have played in the Orchestra over the first 22 years of its existence. This remarkable figure shows what a wealth of amateur musical talent there is on campus. It also reflects the inevitable annual turnover among players, as existing players go off with their degrees and new players join.

The Orchestra’s repertoire is mainly from the Classical (1750-1810) and Romantic (1810-1910) eras, but a number of modern works have been performed, as well, including works by Australian composers. Concertos for various solo instruments figure prominently in the Orchestra’s programs. The soloists in these concertos are almost all students from the University’s music department.

The Orchestra’s much-loved conductor and musical director is Colin Piper. Colin has conducted almost all the Orchestra’s concerts since its inception.

Colin performs professionally as a percussionist with the Sydney Symphony. In 1974 he was a founding member of the internationally recognised percussion ensemble, Synergy.

Over the past 20 years, Colin has earned a substantial reputation as an orchestral conductor. He has been a guest conductor of the Adelaide and Tasmanian Symphony Orchestras, the Sydney Opera House Orchestra, and the Canberra and Sydney University Symphony Orchestras. Since 1992 he has regularly conducted the Sydney Symphony in Schools' Concerts, Education Kits recording, Playerlink projects and Babies' Proms.