[citation needed] The ASO's highlights have included its 1998 performances of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle, the first Australian production since 1913[2] (although it was widely and erroneously claimed to be the first ever in Australia).

[3] In 2009 Premier and Arts Minister Mike Rann proposed and provided government funding to the ASO to commission a major orchestral work about climate change.

The ASO's world premiere of Gerard Brophy's The Blue Thread, inspired by the River Murray, was performed at the Concert for the Earth at the Adelaide Town Hall on 27 November 2010.

[4] The Rann government proposed and arranged funding for two further ASO commissions, the first an orchestral tribute to the cricketer Sir Donald Bradman, and the second commemorating the centenary of the ANZAC landings at Gallipoli.

The ASO provides the orchestral support for all productions of the State Opera of South Australia, as well as the Adelaide performances of The Australian Ballet.