Covent Garden Chamber Orchestra was founded as a non-professional orchestra in the 1980s and the first concerts took place in St Paul's Church Covent Garden, hence its name.

CGCO has a regular season of concerts at St Paul's, but also performs at other London venues, including St John's Smith Square, St George's Hanover Square and St Jude’s on the Hill, Hampstead.

CGCO performs music from the Baroque period to the present day, and prides itself on its interesting programmes of a high standard.   Recent concerts have included  Handel’s Messiah (at St George's Hanover Square); symphonies by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich; concerti by Nielson (flute concerto), Kurt Weill, Korngold, Shostakovich, Barber & Copland; orchestral works by Bartok (Music for Strings Percussion and Celeste), Stravinsky (Dumbarton Oaks, Danses Concertantes and Pulcinella Suite), Villa-Lobos (Bachianas Brasileiras), Britten (Serenade for Tenor, Horn & Strings), Richard  Strauss (Metamorphosen) and Tippett (Concerto for Double String Orchestra).

In collaboration with Abbey Opera, CGCO has given concert performances of operas, including Fidelio (Beethoven), Ariadne auf  Naxos (R Strauss), and Il Trittico (Puccini).

Raising money for charity has always been an important element to our music making.  Since 1995 CGCO has collaborated with Music Aid, giving all proceeds from jointly promoted concerts to Save the Children.