The first musical groups were formed to perform concerts in celebration of the city's patron, Saint Blaise (locally Sveti Vlaho).
As the number of musicians in the Republic increased, the Senate decided to introduce qualified professors who could teach music to the youth.
Apart from teaching, these professors played in the orchestra Knez's Music (Croatian: Kneževe glazbe).
Over the years many well-known conductors and performers have played with the orchestra: Lovro von Matačić, Zubin Mehta, Kirill Kondrashin, Ernst Märzendorfer, Henryk Szeryng, Mstislav Rostropovich, Antonio Janigro, Yehudi Menuhin, Anton Nanut, David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter and others.
Its repertoire includes many of Dubrovnik's 18th century classics, especially those of Luka Sorkočević and Ivan Mane Jarnović.