The orchestra was organized in the spring of 2001 by several people, including Mike Graves, Barbara Hanson, and Morgan Brown.

[1][2] Organized as a non-profit group, the community orchestra sought local amateur musicians who were tired of driving to neighboring Portland in order to participate in an orchestra, or who had stopped performing altogether due to the lack of a local group.

[6] In these early days of the group, Portland’s Metropolitan Youth Symphony and Pacific University in Forest Grove donated sheet music to the orchestra.

[8] The group’s fall convert that year was An Austrian Reverie and featured works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven, among others.

[9] Their winter concert in March 2005 mainly used work by Jean Sibelius, a Finnish composer, and featured an owl from the Oregon Zoo for a Harry Potter-themed piece.

[15] For the group's March 2010 concert they featured pieces by Ottorino Respighi and Elliot Del Borgo in a show entitled Dawn of Ancient Melodies.

[16] The orchestra mainly draws members from within Washington County on the west side of the Portland metropolitan area.