The Filarmonica della Scala was first set up by Claudio Abbado and the musicians of the La Scala Opera House in 1982 with the objective of developing a symphonic repertoire in order to add a further dimension to La Scala’s great operatic tradition.  The following year the Filarmonica formed a separate Association.  Carlo Maria Giulini conducted the Orchestra in more than 90 concerts and took it on its first international tours.  Riccardo Muti then became the Principal Conductor from 1987 to 2005, helping the Orchestra to grow artistically and establishing it as a regular visitor to some of the most prestigious international concert halls. The Orchestra has also been able to develop fruitful collaborative relations with some of the greatest conductors of the time: Georges Prêtre, Lorin Maazel and Wolfgang Sawallisch all worked with the Orchestra in its first concert seasons.  There were also important contributions over the years from Leonard Bernstein, Semyon Bychkov, Myung-Whun Chung, James Conlon, Gustavo Dudamel, Peter Eötvös, Christoph Eschenbach, John Eliot Gardiner, Valery Gergiev, Philippe Jordan, Zubin Mehta, Gianandrea Noseda, Seiji Ozawa, Antonio Pappano, Gennadij Rozdestvenskij, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Yuri Temirkanov and Franz Welser–Möst. From 2006 the Filarmonica has intensified its relations with Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Harding, Daniele Gatti and Valery Gergiev.
The Filarmonica’s commitments include its own autonomous season of concerts and La Scala’s symphonic season based on a contractual programme concluded with the Opera House itself. It has also undertaken numerous foreign tours performing abroad more than 450 concerts since its foundation. Over the last decade, it has done more concerts abroad than any other Italian orchestra, significantly increasing the profile of Italian music-making internationally.
Important milestones in recent years have included the Orchestra’s debut in the United States with Riccardo Chailly in 2007 and in China with Myung-Whun Chung in 2008, the same year which marked its return to the Musikverein in Vienna under Daniele Gatti.  In 2009 the Filarmonica gave its first concert at the Berlin Philharmonie under Daniel Barenboim, also returning to Paris with Pierre Boulez and Maurizio Pollini. 2010 concerts included a return trip to Asia with Semyon Bychkov for the Shanghai Expo and in Berlin under the baton of Diego Matheuz. In 2011 the Filarmonica has been conducted on tour by Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, Daniel Harding, Gianandrea Noseda and Georges Prêtre. The Orchestra 2012 tour programme involved Daniel Barenboim conducting concerts in Paris, Berlin and Frankfurt, and Daniel Harding taking it to Prague, Linz, Stuttgart, Dresden and Bonn. Further commitments include the Filarmonica’s participation in the White Nights Festival in Saint Petersburg under Valery Gergiev, with a return to Germany with Fabio Luisi. Semyon Bychkov, Riccardo Chailly, James Conlon, Christoph Eschenbach, Fabio Luisi and Andrés Orozco-Estrada conducted the 2013 tours. The 2014 schedule includes concerts in Austria, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Spain, Switzerland with Riccardo Chailly, Myung-Whun Chung, Daniel Harding and Fabio Luisi.
The Filarmonica has commissioned new pieces from Giorgio Battistelli, Carlo Boccadoro, Azio Corghi, Luis de Pablo, Pascal Dusapin, Peter Eötvös, Ivan Fedele, Matteo Franceschini, Luca Francesconi, Salvatore Sciarrino, Giovanni Sollima and Fabio Vacchi.
The Orchestra has a history of involvement in efforts to promote music for the new generation and has a policy of opening rehearsals for the season’s concerts to schools.  The initiative “Sound, Music!” is specially designed to appeal to primary school children. It also has a long association with Milan’s main scientific institutions and voluntary bodies, organising open rehearsals and special concerts for their benefit. It regularly participates in the MiTo Festival in concerts which have introduced symphonic music to an extremely wide audience. On June 2, 2013 over 50.000 people attended the concert conducted by Riccardo Chailly in the Duomo Square in Milan.
The Filarmonica has also made numerous recordings for the Sony, Decca and Emi labels, including the album “Viva Verdi” (Decca) with Riccardo Chailly celebrating the 200th anniversary of the composer’s birth. The concerts of the Filarmonica season are often recorded for subsequent television broadcast by Rai and broadcast live by Rai’s Radio3 and medici.tv and, since 2012, are broadcasted live in cinemas worldwide. The activities of the Filarmonica della Scala are not subsidised by public funds.  It does however receive support from the UniCredit, the Orchestra’s main institutional partner.