The Chamber Orchestra of Odesa Philharmonic Society was organised in 1995. Its founder was German conductor Thomas Mandl. A year later, in 1996, and at the moment the orchestra headed by Honored Artist of Ukraine Igor Shavruk, who is the artistic director and principal conductor.
Orchestra concerts are regularly held in the Philharmonic Hall and other city concert stages. Each concert season Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra gives about 50 concerts with variety of thematic and educational programs for children, Baroque music, classicism, romanticism, music of the 20th century, the modern domestic and foreign composers.
The Orchestra's Repertoire is constantly growing, having mainly composed of more than one hundred works of various musical eras and styles, including works by Bach, Mozart, Vivaldi, Handel, Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, Mendelssohn, Elgar, Britten, Stravinsky, Webern, Shostakovich, Honegger, Barber; Ukrainian composers M. Skorik, E. Stankovic, V. Silvestrov. Under the direction of Igor Shavruk Orchestra first performed a number of works by composers of Odessa: J. Freidlin, A. Krasotov, A. Tomlionova, A. Rovenko , G. Uspensky, K. Tsepkolenko and others.
Among the orchestra guest conductor's were such famous conductors as Allin Vlasenko (Kiev), Vladimir Runchak (Kiev), Bernhard Wulff (Germany), Mario Beretta (Switzerland), Boris Bloch (Germany). Soloists with the orchestra were well-known musicians, world-class violinists Maxim Fedotov, Michael Guttman, pianists Alexey Botvinov, Dina Yoffe, Boris Bloch, Yuri Kuznetsov, as well as many others.
Every year, the orchestra participates in the "Two Days and Two Nights" International Festival of New Music. From 2015 the orchestra participates in ODESSA CLASSICS festival. The Orchestra toured in Ukraine in many cities, as well as in Germany, Poland, Italy, Spain, Moldova.
In 2020, the Chamber Orchestra celebrates its 25-year anniversary.
