Founded in 1928 by Vittorio Gui as the Stabile Orchestrale Fiorentina, from its beginning the Orchestra plays in concerts and operas of the former Teatro Comunale of Florence, now Teatro del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino. Today the Orchestra is still considered one of the finest orchestras both by conductors and audiences from all over the world. In 1933, on the birth of the Festival, it takes the actual name of Orchestra del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino.

After Gui, the principal conductors were Mario Rossi (1937) and Bruno Bartoletti (after the Second World War). Fundamental chapters in the Orchestra history are the years from 1969 to 1981, were the position of princpal conductor was given to Riccardo Muti, then to Zubin Mehta, who became Principal conductor from 1985. In its history the Orchestra del Maggio was conducted by greatest conductors such as: Victor De Sabata, Antonio Guarnieri, Gino Marinuzzi, Gianandrea Gavazzeni, Tullio Serafin, Wilhelm Furtwängler, Bruno Walter, Otto Klemperer, Issay Dobrowen, Jonel Perlea, Erich Kleiber, Arthur Rodzinski, Dimitri Mitropoulos, Herbert von Karajan, Leonard Bernstein, Thomas Schippers, Claudio Abbado, Lorin Maazel, Carlo Maria Giulini, Georges Prêtre, Wolfgang Sawallisch, Carlos Kleiber, Georg Solti, Riccardo Chailly, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Seiji Ozawa, Daniele Gatti and Fabio Luisi, from April 2018 to July 2019 as principal conductor. Currently Daniele Gatti is the principal conductor and Zubin Mehta is the Honorary conductor for life.

So many composers conducted a premiere of their music pieces at the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino such as: Richard Strauss, Pietro Mascagni, Ildebrando Pizzetti, Paul Hindemith, Igor Stravinskij, Goffredo Petrassi, Luigi Dallapiccola, Krzysztof Penderecki and Luciano Berio. Since the fifties, the Orchestra made numerous recordings, also for radio and television, which received major awards including, in 1990, the Grammy Award. At the eightieth anniversary of its foundation, the Orchestra receives the Fiorino d’Oro of the City of Florence.

Recent tournées at the Salzburg Festival for a symphonic concert and Tosca in concert form, conducted by Zubin Mehta; in Athens, at the Grafenegg Festival, in Budapest and Dubai for EXPO 2020. Recent the European tour with Zubin Mehta in Hamburg, Linz, Vienna, Luxembourg City, Muri and Dortmund and the two inaugural concerts of the new Auditorium of the Teatro del Maggio. In July 2022 he conducted the Orchestra and the Choir of the Maggio in the Concerto for Florence in the Cavea of ​​the Teatro del Maggio and a tournée in Piazza del Campo in Siena, Ravello, Rimini, Macerata and Marbella.

Recently, the Orchestra went on tour in Bucarest (for the Otello by Giuseppe Verdi and a concert) and i Bangkok (for a concert) always with Zubin Mehta.

On 22 December 2023, the Orchestra celebrate with a concert the 90 years since the foundation of the Maggio Musicale Fiorentino Chorus.

First violins  
Salvatore Quaranta (violino di spalla)
Lorenzo Fuoco (concertino)
Boriana Nakeva (terzo posto)
Gianrico Righele
Anna Noferini
Laura Mariannelli
Emilio Di Stefano
Nicola Grassi
Angel Andrea Tavani
Simone Ferrari
Annalisa Garzia
Leonardo Matucci
Luisa Bellitto
Tommaso Vannucci
Anton Horvath
Ginevra Tavani

Second violins
Luigi Papagni (II)
Orietta Bacci
Rossella Pieri
Sergio Rizzelli
Laura Bologna
Cosetta Michelagnoli
Carmela Panariello
Corinne Curtaz
Isak Lenza
Ilaria Lanzoni
Bernadette Maria Lo Russo

Violas 
Jörg Winkler (I)
Lia Previtali (II)
Herber Dézi (II)
Stefano Rizzelli
Flavio Flaminio
Cristiana Buralli
Donatella Ballo
Michela Bernacchi
Ragli Elisa
Marino Claudia 
Valentina Gasperetti

Cellos 
Patrizio Serino (I)
Simão Pedro Alcoforado Barreira (I)
Michele Tazzari (II)
Elida Pali (II)
Beatrice Guarducci
Wiktor Jasman
Sara Nanni
Sara Anna Spirito
Costanza Persichella
Aimon José Mata Gonzalez

Basses 
Riccardo Donati (I)
Marco Martelli (I)
Fabrizio Petrucci (II)
Daniele Gasparotto (II)
Nicola Domeniconi
Mauro Tedesco
Giulio Andrea Marignetti

Flutes 
Gregorio Tuninetti (I)
Mattia Petrilli(I)
Alessia Sordini
Irene Lucci

Piccolo
Francesco Viola

Oboes
Marco Salvatori (I)
Luca Di Manso (I)
Alessandro Potenza

English horn 
Massimiliano Salmi

Clarinets 
Riccardo Crocilla (I)
Edoardo Di Cicco(I)
Leonardo Cremonini

Bassoons
Rojas Garcia Alejandra (I)
Sergi Niccolò (I)
Gianluca Saccomani
Francesco Furlanich

Horns
Luca Benucci (I)
Alessio Dainese (I)
Alberto Serpente
Alberto Simonelli
Michele Canori
Stefano Mangini

Trumpets 
Claudio Quintavalla (I)
Marco Crusca
Emanuele Antoniucci
Tobia Guerri

Trombones
Giovanni Dominicis
Andrea G. D’Amico
Massimo Castagnino

Low trombone  
Gabriele Malloggi

Low tuba 
Mario Barsotti

Timpani
Fausto Cesare Bombardieri (I)
Gregory Lecoeur (I)

Drums
Lorenzo D’Attoma
Andrea Tiddi

Orchestra organizing secretary
Luca Mannucci