Founded in 1978 as the English String Orchestra by conductor William Boughton, the orchestra was first based in Malvern and quickly established a reputation for its performances of music in the English Romantic and national styles prevalent in the early decades of the 20th century.
Partnerships with other British or British-based musicians of great renown, including Nigel Kennedy, Steven Isserlis, Daniel Hope and John Lill helped bring the orchestra national recognition.
The orchestra came to international attention throughout the 1980s and 1990s in large part due to their series of recordings for Nimbus Records, in particular, their advocacy for the works of early- and mid- 20th-century British music by composers like Arnold Bax, Frank Bridge, George Butterworth, John Ireland, Gerald Finzi and Lennox Berkeley as well as more mainstream figures like Benjamin Britten, Edward Elgar and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
In addition to its own active commissioning programme, the ESO work closely with soloists, festivals and record labels to develop co-commissioning projects.
The orchestra has also promoted the music of composers whose music was suppressed by the Nazis before and during World War II, to include performances and recordings of works by Ernst Krenek, Hans Gál, Michael Tippett and Viktor Ullmann.