The School was founded by Paloma O'Shea[2] in 1991[1] in Madrid, in order to provide Spain with a high performance training centre for young musicians and to carry out activities to bring Classical music to the larger public.

In addition to this regular team, each year professors invited to the Masterclasses Program complement the work of the school with different conceptions and perspectives.

Among the professors that presently teach at the School are Zakhar Bron,[3] Marco Rizzi, Diemut Poppen, Nobuko Imai,[4] Ivan Monighetti,[5] Jens Peter Maintz, Jacques Zoon,[6] Hansjörg Schellenberger, Pascal Moraguès, Gustavo Núñez, Radovan Vlatkovic, Dmitri Bashkirov, Galina Eguiazarova, Francisco Araiza, Fabián Panisello, Heime Müller and Márta Gulyás.

Since its foundation in 1991, the Reina Sofía School has trained more than 850 students, some of which have had notable careers as performers: Aquiles Machado, Arcadi Volodos,[7] Asier Polo,[8] Celso Albelo,[9] Cuarteto Casals,[10] Fibonacci Quartet,[11] Eldar Nebolsin,[12] Juan Pérez Floristán,[13] Latica Honda-Rosenberg,[14] Nora Salvi,[15] Pablo Ferrández,[16] Rui Borges Maia,[17] Sol Gabetta,[18] Tommaso Lonquich,[19] Wen Xiao Zheng,[20] Xavier Inchausti,[21] Dúo del Valle,[22] Cuarteto Quiroga,[23] Ana Lucrecia García,[24] Johane González Seijas,[25] Stanislav Ioudenitch,[26] Ismael Jordi,[27] Claudio Martínez Mehner,[28] Luis Fernando Pérez,[29] David Kadouch, Emil Rovner,[30] and Pablo Díaz.

Among the renowned conductors that have conducted these orchestras are: András Schiff, Andrés Orozco-Estrada, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Luciano Berio, Péter Csaba, Sir Colin Davis, Peter Eötvös, Pablo González, Pablo Heras-Casado, Jesús López Cobos, Lorin Maazel, Yehudi Menuhin, Zubin Mehta, Krzysztof Penderecki, Josep Pons, Antoni Ros Marbà and Jordi Savall.