The orchestra records many soundtracks for BBC television, including Doctor Who, Torchwood, Human Planet, and Earthflight.

After the war, the BBC Welsh Orchestra was revived as a 31-member ensemble, with Mansel Thomas as its first principal conductor.

It reached a full symphonic complement of 88 players in 1987 before being reduced to its current level of 78 players in 2014 as part of BBC savings delivered by Director at the time, Michael Garvey, who also made reductions to the administrative and management team through redundancies.

In July 2011, the BBC NOW announced the appointment of Thomas Søndergård as its 14th principal conductor, effective with the 2012–2013 season, for an initial contract of 4 years.

[5] Past principal guest conductors have included Mariss Jansons, James Loughran and Jac van Steen.

In December 2015, the BBC NOW announced the appointment of Xian Zhang as its next principal guest conductor, effective with the 2016–2017 season, with an initial contract of 3 years.

[7] Adrian Partington is the current artistic director of the BBC National Chorus of Wales.

[8] In September 2019, the BBC NOW announced the appointment of Bancroft as its next chief conductor, effective with the 2020–2021 season, with an initial contract of 3 years.