In Vahdeddin's reign, it was called Makam-i Hilafet Muzikasi ("The Caliph's Band").After the foundation of the Turkish Republic, the state orchestra moved to the new capital Ankara on April 27, 1924, upon the orders of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, founding president of the Republic of Turkey.

Upon moving to Ankara, the Musiki Muallim Mektebi (Music Teacher's School) was also formed (in 1924) with the efforts of Zeki Üngör.

The Presidential Symphony Orchestra and the Ankara State Conservatory owe their existence to a government policy that started during the early 1930s when the Turkish government invited a large number of musicologists, composers, performers who were at risk in their native Germany, to initiate and to institutionalize music education and performance, including opera, theater and ballet.

[2] The scope of the changes made by Paul Hindemith, Licco Amar, Ernst Praetorius, Carl Ebert among many others, bordered on being revolutionary.

As of 2015[update] the orchestra had played in Germany, Austria, Bulgaria, Romania, Yugoslavia, the Soviet Union, Italy, France, Switzerland, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Sweden, Norway, Finland, Spain, Poland, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, South Korea, Japan, the United States and England.