Hans Stadlmair was the artistic director from 1956 to 1995, and conducted the orchestra in over 4000 concerts, including international tours and collaborations with the Bayerischer Rundfunk.

[2] The MKO has regularly commissioned music from such contemporary composers as Erkki-Sven Tüür, Georg Friedrich Haas, Thomas Larcher, Iannis Xenakis and Wolfgang Rihm, among others.

The MKO and the Philharmonie Essen commissioned Jörg Widmann's ad absurdum, Concerto for trumpet in B♭ and small orchestra, which premiered on 18 January 2006 with soloist Sergei Nakariakov.

[4] The MKO was awarded the Musikpreis der Landeshauptstadt München in 2000, the prize for the best concert programming from the Deutscher Musikverleger-Verband (German association of music publishers) for the seasons 2001/02 and 2005/06, the Cannes Classical Award in 2002, the Prize of the Christoph and Stephan Kaske Foundation in 2002 with Christoph Poppen, the Ernst von Siemens Förderpreis in 2001 to 2003.

In 2008, the Bayerische Akademie der Schönen Künste awarded the prize Neues Hören (New Listening) of the foundation Neue Musik im Dialog (New Music Dialogue) for the successful delivery of contemporary music to the chamber orchestra.