Comprising 21 players, recruited internationally, France's Orchestre d'Auvergne is one of the country's top small orchestral ensembles. Its repertory ranges from Baroque music to contemporary works.

Headquartered in the city of Clermont-Ferrand in France's Auvergne region, the Orchestre d'Auvergne was founded in 1981. Various agencies, including France's Ministry of Culture and the city of Clermont-Ferrand, had hands in its creation, but the prime movers were the Regional Council of Auvergne and its vice-president, Elisabeth de Montgon-Fouillade. From the start, it emphasized strong talent; its first director was Jean-Jacques Kantorow, who has continued to work with the group even has he has gone on to become one of France's most renowned conductors. From 1994 to 2011 its music director was Arie van Beek; Roberto Forés Veses took up the baton in 2012. The orchestra's mission has been to present live performances and radio broadcasts in the Auvergne region, but it has also toured some 20 countries and has been visible at major European festivals.

The group is unusually active, playing about 100 concerts a year. Even with this busy schedule it has found time for a number of recordings, some of them on major labels. The orchestra's 2010 release Zauber der Harfe: Best Loved Harp Concertos, with harpist Marielle Nordmann, appeared on EMI Classics. The Orchestre d'Auvergne has recorded both string orchestra repertory and works for full orchestra; among the latter was a set of Mozart piano concertos with pianist Edna Stern, issued in 2010 by Zig Zag Territoires. In 2011, the orchestra's live recording, from a festival in Reims, of Vivaldi's Four Seasons violin concertos, with violinist Olivier Charlier, appeared on TransArt. A recording of the Tchaikovsky Serenade, Op. 48, appeared on Aparte in 2016. The group's recording of works for strings by Dvorák, Martinu, and Janácek appeared on that label in 2018. ~ James Manheim, Rovi