[1] The orchestra was founded by Iraqi-born composer and musician Solhi al-Wadi, its first conductor as well as the director of the Higher Institute for Music in Damascus,[2] and gave its first public concert in 1993.
[3] The orchestra has its permanent home in the Damascus Opera House,[4] and its principal conductor is the Syrian-Armenian maestro Missak Baghboudarian, who received his academic training in Italy.
[11][12] In July 2020, the SNSO participated with an online performance from Damascus of Beethoven's Eroica symphony in a series of friendship concerts, where Italian conductor Riccardo Muti conducted his Luigi Cherubini Youth Orchestra with Syrian guest musicians in Ravenna, Italy.
Reaching out to young audiences, he talked about a project under the title "Discover Music", directed towards children living in shelters, organized in cooperation with the Syria Trust for Development.
During one cold winter, the orchestra only asked visitors to bring along warm clothes for needy children, instead of buying a ticket.