The origins of the Lviv Symphony Orchestra trace back to the early decades of the 19th century and the musical activities in Lviv by Mozart’s youngest son, Franz Xaver. Franz Xaver Mozart was an organizer of musical life, the founder of the St. Cecilia Society, within which the symphonic orchestra began its activities, accompanying opera performances as well.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the orchestra continued its activities under the Philharmonic Society, initiated by Ludwik Heller, the then director of the Lviv Opera. During this time, musicians of the caliber of Gustav Mahler, Richard Strauss, and Béla Bartók performed with the orchestra. Bartók played his Piano Concerto No. 2 with the Lviv Orchestra. The post-war history of the orchestra is associated with the names of conductors Mykola Kolessa and Ivan Pain. Memorable concerts include the performances of conductors Stefan Turczak, Kiril Kondrashin, Natan Rakhlin, and Gennady Rozhdestvensky. Soloists such as David Oistrakh, Sviatoslav Richter, Mstislav Rostropovich, as well as composers Dmitri Shostakovich, Aram Khachaturian, Dmitri Kabalevsky, and many others have performed with the orchestra. Today, the orchestra's principal conductor is Theodore Kuchar. The orchestra collaborates with guest conductors, including Roman Kofman, Thomas Sanderling, Peter Hulke, Fuat Mansurov, Volodymyr Sirenko, Roman Revakovych, and Vincent Kozlowski. The ensemble has undertaken numerous international concert tours to the USA, China, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, Poland, Spain, and Switzerland.