Directly after the end of World War II, in 1945, Stefan Rachoń, the violinist and conductor, established an orchestra which was to fulfil a wide range of tasks. In practice, the lion’s share of the repertoire was popular and light music. Making archive recordings for Polish Radio and TV, which for many years functioned as a single institution, was one of the orchestra’s main tasks. It also performed during various gala concerts and festivals.
After three decades, in the mid-1970s, the ensemble’s successive conductors and artistic directors began to change its profile. In the years 1976-1980 Włodzimierz Kamirski considerably expanded the repertoire, methodically converting the ensemble into a classical symphony orchestra. His efforts were continued by Jan Pruszak (1980-1988) and Mieczysław Nowakowski (1988-1990). During Tadeusz Strugała’s four-year stint (1990-1993), the ensemble was given its present name and moved from the rather obsolete M-1 Studio in Myśliwiecka Street to a brand-new Polish Radio Concert Hall, which was soon named after Witold Lutosławski. With an auditorium seating over 400, the Hall boasts the latest in recording and broadcast equipment. It has also achieved wide recognition outside Poland for its excellent and unique acoustics.
In 1993-2006, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra was directed by Wojciech Rajski. He organized a series of auditions and tests for  prospective members in the wake of which he rejuvenated the orchestra by engaging many up-and-coming enthusiastic musicians. The day-to-day activity of the orchestra includes archive recordings for the Polish Radio and public concerts in the Witold Lutosławski Concert Hall. Foreign tours have taken the ensemble to France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany and the Czech Republic. In all these countries, it was warmly received and critically acclaimed. On 8 May 1995,  the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra took part in a gala concert in Darmstadt marking the 50th anniversary of the end of World War Two. The programme of the concert featured Penderecki’s St Luke Passion (performed, in the composer’s presence, by  combined Polish and German choral forces). The orchestra has appeared in many  prestigious venues including Milan’s La Scala, the Lingotto  Auditorium in Turin, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt.  It has also taken part in numerous events promoting Polish culture abroad (the inauguration of the Polish Year in Sweden, two concerts at the Vilnius Philharmonic Hall to mark the 10th anniversary of Polish-Lithuanian diplomatic relations, a concert at the Lviv Opera in Ukraine on Poland’s Independence Day, 11th November 2002, a concert of Wojciech Kilar’s works for the ceremony of granting him the Gold Spectre award of the Polish Culture Foundation, the gala concert during the MIDEM Music Fair in Cannes). On 22nd June 2004 in Dublin’s National Philharmonic,  the Orchestra conducted by Jan Krenz played works by Chopin, Wieniawski and Moniuszko at a gala concert entitled “Warsaw Is Closer Than You Think”. In November of that year in the Parisian Theatre Silvia Monfort, the Orchestra performed during the world premiere of Zygmunt Krauze’s opera Yvonne, Princess of Burgundy; after this concert performance, the Orchestra under Andrzej Straszyński also premiered the stage version, presented in Warsaw’s National Theatre on 29th September 2006. On 3 October 2005 the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra under Wojciech Rajski performed at the Theatre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels at a gala concert ‘Thank You, Europe’ which concluded the celebrations of the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement and trade union. On 11th November 2005, Jerzy Maksymiuk led the Orchestra’s gala concert in Cracow Philharmonic during the 1st Festival of Polish Music.
The past few years have seen a further expansion of the orchestra’s repertoire, reflected in its growing discography on the Polish Radio label as well as on EMI Classic, KOCH, cpo and Olympia. Recently, the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra has also recorded film music and appeared under the baton of Maurice Jarre, Michael Kamen, Ennio Morricone and Michel Legrand in concerts featuring their music. In 2005 the Orchestra recorded Johann Strauss’s Die Fledermaus (cond. Jerzy Maksymiuk). It was the first recording of this work in the Polish language version.
In March 2007 Łukasz Borowicz, who had already directed the Orchestra’s concerts and recording sessions for several years,  was appointed Artistic Director of the Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra. The CD he recorded with Dominik Połoński and the PRSO won the 2007 Fryderyk Award of the Polish music industry. His first concert as Artistic Director of PRSO took place at the “Roma nel Cuore” Festival in Rome, where in the ancient Basilica di Massenzio on Forum Romanum he gave a highly successful concert, featuring Patrycja Piekutowska as soloist in Henryk Wieniawski’s Violin Concerto No. 2, M. K. Ogiński’s Polonaises by Roman Palester, and Ludwig van Beethoven’s Symphony No. 7.