[2] Heavily influenced by Swiss conductors Armin Jordan and Jost Meier in its beginnings, the orchestra has been directed by Kaspar Zehnder since the 2012/2013 season.
While never neglecting the important works of the classical repertory, a special emphasis is placed on works from the 20st century and contemporary music: Orchestral compositions by Edward Rushton, Urs Peter Schneider, Cécile Marti, Daniel Andres, Jean-Luc Darbellay and Hanns Eisler have seen their first performance by this orchestra.
Next to the symphonic concerts and its participation in the operatic productions of the Theater Orchester Biel Solothurn, the orchestra presents annual summer concerts which take place under the open sky and feature young musicians in training from all over the country.
The recognition towards the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra is reflected in the impressive list of its collaborators: Internationally renowned conductors such as Lawrence Foster, Matthias Bamert, Nathalie Stutzmann, Augustin Dumay, José van Dam, Arabella Steinbacher, Heinz Holliger, Milan Horvat, Maxim Vengerov, Marcello Viotti, Gábor Takács-Nagy, Natalia Gutmann, Louis Lortie, Patricia Kopatchinskaja, Misha Maisky, Feng Ning, Renaud and Gautier Capuçon and Giovanni Bellucci stand for the artistic qualities of the orchestra.
In 2015, the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra started a new series of recordings of works by lesser known romantic composers such as Robert Radecke, Ferdinand Thierot, Josef Rheinberger and Robert Volkmann with the labels CPO and Outhere Music.