The Orchestra consists of around 30 professional and non-professional musicians and gives around ten concerts in Hong Kong each year.
Prof. Robert Lord, a professor of linguistics at University of Hong Kong, was the first music director and official founder of the orchestra.
HKCO conductors over the years have included Robert Lord, Peter Stephenson, Nicholas Routley, Malcolm Butler, KK Chiu and Ken Lam.
The Hong Kong Chamber Orchestra has a wide coverage of repertoire from Bach cantatas, to Mozart overtures and Beethoven symphonies, to Elgar, Brahms, Dvořák, Johann Strauss, to Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky.
The 2006 season marked the beginning of their 30th year of playing as well as performing as a chamber ensemble without a conductor – a move that will focus itself on better ensembleship among players.