Founded in 2013 and led by its Founding Conductor, Artistic, and Executive Director Dr. Brian Chatpo Koo, the Sydney Contemporary Orchestra (SCO) is dedicated to exploring and promoting new music of contemporary composers.

Based in Sydney Australia and comprised of about 100 of Sydney’s finest professional musicians, the SCO offers high-standard professional video recording concerts for contemporary orchestral music providing significant incentives for composers to pursue creative endeavors in new music and to enrich the music culture of our times. 

Since 2013, the SCO has hosted 18 concerts – Music Contemporary 2013, 2014, 2015, Contemporary Piano Music 2014, Chamber Music 2014, and the Sydney New Music Festival 2016 which consists of six open rehearsals and 3 public concerts (Contemporary Piano Music 2016, Contemporary String Quartets 2016 and Contemporary Chamber Music 2016), Sydney International Composers Concerts 2017, 2018, 2020, and 2022, and has premiered almost 100 new works of composers from 50 countries and regions around the world.  The SCO also hosted and video recorded a Chinese New Year Concert for the celebration of the Chinese Spring Festival in 2015 which was highly acclaimed. 

The vision of the SCO is to enrich the cultural life of Sydney and to establish Sydney’s reputation as a leading center for the performance of contemporary music. The SCO promotes the music of today’s composers from Australia and around the world. It is the only Australian orchestra dedicated to the performance of new music by today’s contemporary composers.

The Sydney Contemporary Orchestra (SCO) is registered as a non-profit musical organization by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission. In order to achieve our objectives, we have established the SCO Foundation (as defined in Taxation Ruling TR95/27).

The Sydney Contemporary Orchestra Inc. (ABN 83 708 568 952) and The SCO Foundation it operates are listed on the Register of Cultural Organisations under Subdivision 30-BA of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997.

All Board members of the Management Committee and Managers are volunteers, enabling us to keep our funding towards employing the finest musicians and ensuring that our concerts are of the highest quality.