[4] On 16 February 1934 the orchestra performed a concert of chamber works by Ernest Bloch at the Aeolian Hall, conducted by the composer.
[10] Neel conducted the first music heard in the new Glyndebourne opera house in 1934, in private performances, at John Christie's invitation.
[4] Among the Boyd Neel Orchestra's early releases in 1936 were the first recordings of Vaughan Williams's Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis and Britten's Simple Symphony.
[4] In 1939 Boyd Neel commissioned John Ireland's three movement Concertino Pastorale for string orchestra, first played at the Canterbury Festival on 14 June 1939.
[13][14] During World War II, Neel returned to medical work and the Navy,[13] while continuing to conduct when time permitted.
Britten wrote his Prelude and Fugue for 18 string instruments as a 10th birthday present to the Boyd Neel Orchestra in 1943.
[15] Mátyás Seiber's Besardo Suite No.2, composed in 1942, was premiered by the Boyd Neel Orchestra at the Wigmore Hall on 3 December 1945.
[4] Beginning in 1947, with the Boyd Neel Orchestra, he embarked on a series of world tours, playing in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the United States, and appearing in festivals such as Edinburgh[2] and Aix-en-Provence.
[22] Soon after his appointment he formed the Hart House Orchestra in Toronto and toured with it extensively, at, among other events, the Brussels World's Fair in 1958, the Aldeburgh Festival in 1966 and Expo '67.