On October 5th, 1926, a professional orchestra came into being – the New Symphony Orchestra, the predecessor of the present NHK Symphony Orchestra. After being briefly called the Japan Symphony Orchestra, it was renamed the NHK Symphony Orchestra when it began to receive full financial support from Nippon Hoso Kyokai (Japan Broadcasting Corporation) in 1951.

Throughout its more than 80-year history, the Orchestra has continually invited many of the world's most renowned conductors, including Josef Rosenstock, Herbert von Karajan, Ernest Ansermet, Joseph Keilberth, Lovro von Matačić and Ferdinand Leitner, to name but a few, to raise its artistic and technical standard to a level which now makes it one of the top orchestras in Japan, all the while working with some of the world's most celebrated soloists to offer the public innumerable outstanding performances which have become entrenched as part of Japan's history of classical music.

Since 1960 the NHK Symphony Orchestra has made 30 concert tours around the globe, for which it has gained worldwide acclaim.

In recent years, the Orchestra has presented approximately 120 concerts nationwide annually, including 54 subscription concerts which have been relayed to every corner of the country on NHK Television and through FM radio broadcasts, as well as to the world via international broadcasts.

Conductors who are closely associated with the NHK Symphony Orchestra include Charles Dutoit (Music Director Emeritus), Vladimir Ashkenazy (Conductor Laureate), Wolfgang Sawallisch (Honorary Conductor Laureate), Herbert Blomstedt (Honorary Conductor), Yuzo Toyama (Permanent Conductor), Tadaaki Otaka (Permanent Conductor) and André Previn (Principal Guest Conductor).

A number of accomplished conductors including Nello Santi, Jun Märkl and Roger Norrington guest-conduct the orchestra on a regular basis.