China's Suzhou Symphony Orchestra is among Asia's newest orchestras. It is a youthful group devoted to not only performance but also educational outreach. The group performs a mix of Western and Chinese music and has been active in commissioning new works from younger Chinese composers.

Although the city of Suzhou in eastern China has a long history featuring many traditional art forms, it lacked a symphony orchestra until 2016. The group held a recruitment drive that summer, holding auditions at Yale University (where music school dean Robert Blocker was part of the symphony's organizing committee), in San Francisco, at the Philharmonie in Paris, and in Israel, as well as in China. The resulting group had an average age of 30 and an international membership. Its official founding date was November 18, 2016. The Suzhou Symphony Orchestra made its debut on December 31, 2016, with a program featuring Chinese works, the Carmen Fantasy of Sarasate played by star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter, the finale of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, and selections from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, among other pieces. The concert, titled "The crow of golden rooster heralds the dawn, Suzhou is full of happiness," was conducted by Chen Xieyang, who was named the new orchestra's music director; Xu Zhong became the conductor. Soon, the orchestra moved into its new Jinji Lake Concert Hall, designed by architect and acoustician Yasuhisa Toyota. The orchestra toured in China and the West as early as 2017. To build audiences for symphonic music, the group's youthful members have engaged in such educational activities as the SZS Music Classroom, which has taken the musicians into schools and into contact with some 2,500 students, and the SZS Music Salon, modeled on 19th century European salons.

The Suzhou Symphony Orchestra has welcomed such guest artists as opera singer Norah Amsellem, conductor James Judd, cellist Gary Hoffman, and classical guitarist Yang Xuefei. Its Chinese repertory includes not only works of classic Chinese orchestral music such as the Yellow River Concerto but also newly commissioned works by Chinese composers. In 2021, the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra made its recording debut, along with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, on the Naxos label performing the Suzhou Overture of composer Bright Sheng, conducted by the composer. ~ James Manheim, Rovi