The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra

Ireland's RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra serves as the concert music ensemble of Radio Television Ireland. The group originated alongside the founding of a national radio service in Dublin during 1926, when the station recruited staff musicians who regularly combined for broadcasts and chamber performances. String sections drawn from these radio players joined forces with wind musicians from the Army School of Music and additional instrumentalists to form the Dublin Philharmonic Society, led from 1927 onward by Col. Fritz Brase, the Army School's director.

Radio Éireann, the broadcasting authority's designation by 1947, broadened recruitment across Europe and retitled the ensemble the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, with Captain Michael Bowles as its first conductor. Following Bowles's 1948 retirement after earlier leadership of the smaller predecessor ensemble, the orchestra lacked a permanent music director yet collaborated with figures such as Jean Martinon and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. Milan Horvat assumed the principal conductor role in 1953 and held it until 1961. That same year Ireland incorporated television into its national service. A 1960 broadcasting act created the Irish National Public Service Broadcasting Organisation, whose English-language title governed the on-air operations now known as Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ); the orchestra accordingly became the RTÉ Symphony Orchestra and functioned as Ireland's de facto national orchestra as well as Dublin's principal symphonic body. Tibor Paul served as chief conductor from 1962 and was followed in succession by Albert Rosen, Colman Pierce, Bryden Thomson, and Jànos Fürst.

The National Concert Hall, which opened in Dublin in 1981, supplied the orchestra with a dedicated performance venue while RTÉ simultaneously broadened its broadcast offerings. Until 1979 the authority maintained only a single radio channel and a single television channel; thereafter it launched additional outlets, among them the arts-focused FM3 station that transmitted numerous RTÉSO concerts. In 1989 the ensemble grew to full symphonic scale and was renamed the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland under principal conductor George Hurst. Kaspar de Roo succeeded him in 1994, after which Alexander Anissimov and Gerhard Markson held the post in turn. The orchestra adopted its present designation, RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, in 2005. As of 2018 the principal conductor position remained open, although Nathalie Stutzmann held a contract as principal guest conductor and the roster included an extensive roster of distinguished guest artists.

The ensemble has promoted contemporary music through Irish premieres that include Thomas Adès' Totentanz, Wolfgang Rihm's Verwandlung 4, Kaija Saariaho's Circle Map, Wave Movements by Bryce Dessner of the rock band the National, and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire. It further contributes to music education throughout Ireland via an extensive calendar of school concerts and youth programs. Extensive recordings for the Naxos label encompass a 2018 release of Poulenc's ballet Les biches; the following year brought Orchestrated, a joint project with Irish folk legend Mary Black. In 2022 oversight transferred from RTÉ to the National Concert Hall, restoring the earlier name National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland.