The town of Pécs was founded by the Romans two thousand years ago under the name of Sopianae. It became a major centre of administration within the Province of Pannonia by the end of the 3rd century.

Over the centuries, Pécs has been renowned for its production of grape and wine, and recognised as a scientific and art centre. In 1367, King Louis the Great founded the first Hungarian university here, which counts 25000 students and 5000 teachers today, and is one of the most reputed institutions of higher education in Hungary.

Pécs is a multinational town, as it has always been a crucible of the different nations and cultures throughout its two-thousand-year-old history. The town was given the "Cities for Peace" Award by UNESCO on 31 March 1998.

The underground burial chambers created by the early christians of Sopianae in the 4th century A.D. - now situated in the heart of the town - were pronounced part of the World Heritage by the World Heritage Committee of UNESCO in December 2000.

Today, Pécs is one of the largest towns in Hungary. It is a favourite tourist destination with its quasi-mediterranian climate, varied cultural life, and buzzing town centre. Thanks to this popularity, Pécs has become known abroad as the "town of mediterranian atmosphere". The visitors arriving in the town may have the impression of being somewhere among the hills of Tuscany or Lazio seeing the landscape, the structure of the town, and the building traditions.

Owing to the two-thousand-year-old culture, the mediterranian ambiance, and perhaps the good wines, Pécs has become a home to artists. The town is the regional centre of science, arts, and, of course, music.

The orchestra is the most significant representative of the town's rich musical and orchestral history. Its legal predecessor was the Musicians' Society (Tonkünstler Sozietät) founded by György Lickl (Johann Georg), a contemporary of Mozart and a disciple of Haydn, in 1811. The Musicians' Society gave its first concert on 9 December 1811. György Lickl, born in the south of Austria, studied composition with J. Haydn, and became a recognised composer in Vienna by the beginning of the 19th century. The bishop of Pécs offered to him the position of regens chori in 1806. His activity gave a boost to the development of the musical life of the town. Over the years Mr Lickl contracted musicians from Vienna, and Pécs soon had the best orchestra in Hungary.

Different symphonic orchestras have followed each other over the decades, but the town has always had an orchestra. In the mid-1830s the audience could see remarkable opera performances; the symphonic orchestra was then called "Orchestra of the Free Royal Town of Pécs" . Continuing the tradition, another orchestra was founded in 1871 under the name of "Orchestra of the Music Society of Pécs", and it served the music-loving audience with high standard performances until the mid-20th century. After a passing post-war crisis, the Pécs Symphonic Orchestra was created on the initiative of György Antal, and gave its first concert on 6 March 1951. The year 1956 brought about a radical change in the orchestral life of Pécs: the Pécs Philharmonic Orchestra as a semi-autonomous ensemble was created with the involvement of the National Philharmony on 1 September 1956. The real fulfilment of the orchestra-building begun in 1811 was achieved after 173 years with the creation of an art institution enjoying partial autonomy.

The Pécs Syimphonic Orchestra as a fully autonomous art institution was founded in 1984, lead by conductor and art director Tamás Breitner, counting 92 member artists. The Orchestra has been maintained by the Town of Pécs ever since.

Tamás Breitner, holder of the Liszt Award, Merited Artist, Music Director of the town and Péter Szkladányi, Director of the Orchestra, contributed greatly to the national acknowledgement of the professional orchestra.

Beside the classical-romantic programme of Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi and Puccini, Tamás Breitner also liked to include operas by Wagner in his repertoire, and promoted staging 20th century and contemporary operas, too.

As the leading conductor of the orchestra, Tamás Breitner's main contribution to the musical education of both the orchestra and the audiences was related to his predilection for performing 20th century and contemporary music from home and abroad. Several recordings of his conducting contemporary Hungarian compositions can be found in the archives of the Hungarian Radio, and some records also prove the high standard of interpretations. Beside pieces by Debussy, Honegger, Hindemith, Prokofiev, Stravinsky and other foreign composers, we could make here a long list of presentations of works by contemporary Hungarian artists.

Based on the nearly complete works of Bartók and Kodály, Tamás Breitner's 20th century Hungarian repertoire was completed by pieces by Ferenc Farkas, Pál Kadosa, Rudolf Maros, Endre Szervánszky, Ferenc Szabó, István Szelényi, Kamilló Lendvay and Sándor Balassa. After 19 years of work in the position of music director of the town Mr Breitner retired, maintaining his leading status at the theatre.

Mr Péter Szkladányi, who had been director of the Pécs Symphonic Orchestra since 1 January 1989, then contracted Mr Howard Williams as leading conductor and art director.

Mr Williams made his mark on occasion of his inauguration concert on 2 October 1989 with a Hungarian programme including the Ouverture from Erkel's Hunyadi László, Hungarian Fantasy by Franz Liszt, Bartók's Divertimento, and Kodály's Dances from Galánta.

Howard Williams released huge but so far latent artistic energies from the Orchestra. As art director of the ensemble, he systematically opened up towards late romantic works composed for big orchestras, and took a prominent part in the presentation of compositions by 20th century foreign composers in Pécs. He actively participated in the performance of works by contemporary Hungarian composers (eg. Balassa, Kalmár). His major merits are associated with the interpretation of works by composers such as Dvořak, Rachmaninoff, Mahler, Stravinsky, and Messiaen.

In 1993 Howard Williams was given the "Pro Civitate" Award of the Town of Pécs, as a reward for his artistic work in Hungary, and the recognition of the Copyright Office for his commitment to the most recent Hungarian music.

Following the four-year period of professional work directed by Howard Williams, which brought about substantial development in the performance of the orchestra, director Péter Szkladányi contracted Nicolás Pasquet, another conductor coming from abroad. Although born in Uruguay, Mr Pasquet pursued his musical studies in Germany, and his musical taste is therefore greatly affected by the 'German school'. He continued the far-reaching developing work started by Howard Williams. His term as a leading conductor between 1993 and 1996 was characterised by outstanding concerts based on meticulous workshops. As art director, he began a programme series built on compositions by rarely played pieces in Pécs and carried on with it throughout his term. His interpretations of Shostakovich, Bruckner, and Schumann were truly exceptional.

The Orchestra started a series of recordings under Pasquet's direction in 1994, which launched the ensemble's international career with more than 100.000 copies published. On the initiative of Naxos - Marco Polo Records, the Orchestra recorded the complete symphonic works of László Lajtha, which was world premiere on CD.

After the issue of the CD the Pécs Syimphonic Orchestra was granted the Bartók Béla / Pásztory Ditta Award in 1998 for the universal promotion of Hungarian musical culture.

In September 1997 Howard Williams was again requested to take over the position of leading conductor and art director. During the next three years he followed the same principles which determined his first term in Pécs. He conducted memorable oratorial concerts in the Cathedral of Pécs, completed his series comprising all the symphonies by Mahler, and never ceased to conduct contemporary Hungarian compositions. This programme included six compositions by Sándor Balassa, most of them world premiere, as well as pieces by László Dubrovay, György Orbán, and Zsolt Durkó.

After Howard Williams's retirement, and breaking the twelve-year tradition of having a foreign leading conductor, the young and extremely gifted Hungarian conductor, Zsolt Hamar took over the direction of the Pécs Symphonic Orchestra. With several first prizes at Hungarian and international conductors' competitions, and tremendously successful concerts behind him, Zsolt Hamar was already a prominent artist in Hungary.

The programme of the opening concert of both the 2000/2001 season and Zsolt Hamar's activity as art director included the Prelude from Wagner's Tristan and Isolda, the lover's death of Isolda, the Clarinet concert in A Major by Mozart, and Bartók's Concerto. The town's audience had been looking forward to the concert as well as meeting the new art director with great interest, and today he is a celebrated and recognised leading artist of the town.

The 2003 season brought some significant changes in both the personnel and structure of the Orchestra. Director Péter Szkladányi retired after 18 years of directorship, and assisted the Orchestra' work as honorary director from 1 January 2003 until his death.

The new managerial team started the transformation of the Orchestra according to plans by art director Zsolt Hamar and new director Zsolt Horváth. The changes were also confirmed in resolutions by the City Council.

In conformity with the new structural conception of the orchestra, the broad range of tasks including concert activity in Pécs and the wider region, and participation in the theatre's musical programme are to be performed by two ensembles from 1 September 2003: a concert orchestra counting 73 members and a so-called Symphonietta with 22 members.

The possibility of professional renewal and further improvement of quality was rendered by the excellently guided strategic work of the past two decades, and the eminently skilled artists engaged with the ensemble during the past ten years. In accordance with the new strategic goals determined by the management, the Orchestra is to take a greater part in regional concert activity from the jubilee season on (concerts in Kaposvár, Szekszárd, Eszék), and even launch their own subscription concert series in Budapest.

From 1 January 2004, the Orchestra celebrating its 20th anniversary is continuing its high-standard professional work under the name of Pannon Philharmonic Orchestra - Pécs, a new name being an important part of a new image.