The NSO was founded in 1997 by Anu and Kadri Tali as the Estonian-Finnish Symphony Orchestra, to develop cultural contacts between Estonia and Finland.

Today the NSO has members from fifteen countries, and presents pieces from the classical repertoire as well as contemporary and less well-known music.

The orchestra has staged a number of themed concert seasons, such as The Musical Capitals of the World (1998/1999), Life and Death (1999/2000), Symphony (2000/2001), Musica Grande (2001/2002), Passion or Passion (2002/2003), A la Russe (2003/2004), Face of North (2004/2005), Legends (2005/2006), Apocalypse (2006/2007), "Strata" 2007/2008 and "Meetingpoint Estonia" 2009/ 2010.

In October 2003 the first NSO record, Swan Flight, won a prize at the Echo Classics Awards in Germany.

Illusion was nominated for the same prize and was widely covered in the international music press.