The players pursue parallel careers as international soloists, members of chamber groups and as tutors and teachers of music.

[2] The idea for the COE came from musicians in the European Community Youth Orchestra, from members who were past the age limit for the ECYO and who wanted to continue working together in a chamber orchestra context.

Over the years the COE has developed strong relationships with Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink and Nikolaus Harnoncourt, together with Thomas Adès, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Emanuel Ax, Lisa Batiashvili, Joshua Bell, Paavo Berglund, Renaud Capuçon and Gautier Capuçon, Isabelle Faust, Janine Jansen, Vladimir Jurowski, Leonidas Kavakos, Radu Lupu, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Sakari Oramo, Murray Perahia, Maria João Pires, Sir András Schiff and Rolando Villazon.

The COE performs regularly in the major cities of Europe, with occasional visits to the United States, Hong Kong, Japan and Australia.

The orchestra has strong links with the Alte Oper in Frankfurt, the Styriarte festival in Graz, the Lucerne Festival, as well as the Kölner Philharmonie in Cologne, the Philharmonie de Paris and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.