The Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra was founded in 1982 with the aim of cultivating Viennese dance music of the 18th and 19th centuries and performing it in Vienna and all over the world. For 40 years it has been a fixed component of the Vienna Opera Ball.
In addition to the musical participation in ball events, a lively concert activity began, which resulted in an expansion of the repertoire. Compositions of the Strauss dynasty and their contemporaries, but also masterpieces by Franz Lehar and Emmerich Kalman, as well as almost all popular operetta melodies found their way into the concert programs. The Viennese classics and other great composers of symphonic works can also be found regularly in the programs.

Today, the orchestra performs in 36 countries and in almost all European metropolises, undertakes concert tours to several continents and is pleased to have a number of international conductors accompanying and leading it.

The Artistic Director of the Vienna Opera Ball Orchestra is the Hungarian conductor Univ.-Doz. Mag. Laszlo Gyüker. He is the third Chief Conductor in the orchestra's long tradition, after the orchestra's founder Prof. Wolfgang Jelinek and Prof. Uwe Theimer. Andreas Spörri has been 1st Guest Conductor since 2003 and Deputy Chief Conductor since 2022.

Over 35 CD productions document the large repertoire of this orchestra.