In the Queen's Birthday Honours of 2018, Hennessy received the General Division of the Order of Australia – AM award "for significant service to music as a concert violinist, artistic director, mentor and educator".
With the new Melbourne Recital Centre due to be opened in February 2009, the orchestra planned to make that its main performance venue.
From when the first known case of COVID-19 in Australia was reported on 25 January 2020 until the pandemic was declared in September 2022 by the Australian government to be over, public movement was restricted and audience attendances at arts events dwindled.
[14] In an Australian Financial Review report, journalist Katrina Strickland called the old name, Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, "a clunky, confusing moniker",.
[21] As discussed above, at the same time, Crellin's group was performing as APACO and would later change to MCO to align with the opening of the Melbourne Recital Centre.
[29] Australian composers from whom works have been commissioned include Julian Yu,[30][31] Christopher Willcock,[32][33] Ian Munro,[34][35] Gordon Kerry,[36][37] Paul Stanhope,[38][39][40][41] Keith Crellin OAM,[42][43][44] Linda Kouvaras,[45][46][47] Caerwen Martin,[48][49] and Ade Vincent.
[50][51][52] MCO has also given the world premiere performances of works by composers including Deborah Cheetham Fraillon,[53][54][55] Richard Mills,[56][57] Matthew Laing[58][59][60] and Philip Czaplowski.
[72][73] In 2008, as Australia Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, Move Records published, Pictures at an Exhibition, featuring former (and founding) Artistic Director, Jeffrey Crellin.
[74] In 2023, MCO released its self-produced CD titled, Poems & Romances, featuring Markiyan Melnychenko and then Artistic Director, William Hennessy.