Though earlier organizations bearing the same name date back as far as 1923,[1] thanks largely to the efforts of Josephine Fields Sanders, the orchestra was officially founded in 1945 and played its first concert as the Atlanta Youth Symphony under the direction of Henry Sopkin, a Chicago music educator who remained its conductor until 1966.

Under him, the orchestra played Summon the Heroes composed and conducted by John Williams at the opening and closing ceremonies of the Centennial 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

In 2006 the orchestra and its chamber chorus, under Robert Spano, served as the resident ensemble for California's Ojai Festival.

The full ASO Chorus has thrice visited Berlin, giving three performances on each occasion of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem (2003), Hector Berlioz's Grande Messe des Morts (2008), and Johannes Brahms's Ein Deutsches Requiem (2009) with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra under ASO Principal Guest Conductor Donald Runnicles.

The ASO's budget includes not only the costs of production, along with musician and staff salaries and benefits, but also the orchestra's very significant expenditures on education, community outreach, special events and fundraising.

[5] In October 2021, the ASO announced the appointment of Stutzmann as its next music director, effective with the 2022-2023 season, with an initial contract of four years.

A slightly shortened version of the 75-minute album was issued by Vox in the 1990s on compact disc under the title Christmas with Robert Shaw.

In 2004, the orchestra began a project to record for the Deutsche Grammophon label several works by composer Osvaldo Golijov.

One of the orchestra and chorus's best-known recordings, of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony conducted by Robert Shaw, was recorded for the now defunct Pro Arte label, and is out of print, though excerpts from the "Ode to Joy" fourth movement may be found in anthologies issued on the Reference Gold and Classical Heritage labels.

This continued a rancorous history between management and players, as they attempt to extricate themselves from operating in the red, as has been the case for many years now.

In September 2014, after musicians refused to agree to a new contract, management locked out the players and putting the beginning of the 2014–15 season in jeopardy.