The Singapore Chinese Orchestra is Singapore's only professional Chinese orchestra. Formerly a performing unit of the People's Association Cultural Troupe, the Orchestra was inaugurated in 1996 at the initiative of Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. This inception has been instrumental to the Orchestra's elevation in its artistic pursuits, warranting it a national orchestra. Under the patronage of Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra is the resident orchestra of the refurbished Singapore Conference Hall. Under the baton of charismatic music director, Tsung Yeh, the seventy piece orchestra aspires to introduce Chinese orchestral music to an ever-broadening audience.

As an orchestra for the people of Singapore, the Singapore Chinese Orchestra reaches out to the people through its Community Concert Series, Arts Education Programmes at schools, and outdoor concerts at national parks. In 2004, it launched its Caring and MUSICare Series to bring Chinese orchestral music to the less privileged.

The Singapore Chinese Orchestra works hard to promote Chinese orchestral music. In 2000, it gathered over 1400 music enthusiasts from various Chinese orchestras across Singapore in a mega concert to welcome the new millennium. To help develop Singaporean talent, the orchestra began its Arranger-In-Residence and Conducting Assistant programmes in 2003. The former recognises the efforts of local musicians who have actively been rearranging a number of works for the Orchestra, while the latter is a conducting mentorship for prospective local musicians. It also established a youth orchestra, the Singapore Youth Chinese Orchestra, in 2003 to train young musicians for a professional career.

The orchestra performed a symphonic fantasy epic, Marco Polo and Princess Blue, as part of the Opening Festival of Esplanade-Theatres on the Bay in November 2002. This spectacular work featured not only the orchestra but also a chorus performing in Chinese and Mongolian and was a resounding success. A year later, the orchestra staged a musical and visual conversation with Singapore's most celebrated multi-disciplinary artist, Tan Swie Hian, at the 2003 Singapore Arts Festival. Its performances by invitation at both the World Economic Forum in October and the International Summit of Art Councils in November 2003 were well received. Last year the Singapore Chinese Orchestra celebrated the nation's 39th birthday by staging a spectacular concert entitled Singapore Chinese Orchestra National Day Concert - Our People, Our Music, featuring over 2300 performers at the Singapore Indoor Stadium.

The two recently launched CDs entitled Tsung Yeh and the Singapore Chinese Orchestra and A Glimpse of Singapore under the baton of Maestro Yeh reveal again the versatility and virtuosity of the orchestra. This year the orchestra will undertake its first European concert tour to Budapest, London and Newcastle. The orchestra will be performing at the Budapest Spring Festival and the Singapore Season in London at Barbican Centre and The Sage Gateshead. The invitations to perform at these venues confirms the orchestra's reputation as one of the leading professional orchestras in the world.