In September 1984, under the leadership of Seiji Ozawa and Kazuyoshi Akiyama, a group of Japanese musicians from all over the world gathered together in Japan to perform a series of concerts in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the death of Hideo Saito—co-founder of the Toho Gakuen School of Music and mentor to those conductors and musicians.
The series of memorial concerts performed in Tokyo and Osaka became the beginning of the career of the Saito Kinen Orchestra.
In the beginning of the orchestra's establishment, its members would consist of Saito's former students who agreed with Ozawa and Akiyama that they should assemble in Japan for the memorial concerts.
In 1987 the Orchestra made its first tour of Europe in Vienna, Berlin, Frankfurt, Paris, and London.
It originally consisted of Saito's former students and the graduates from the Toho Gakuen School of Music.