The Orchestre Symphonique Bienne was founded in 1969. Its activities centre on its series of symphony concerts in Bienne, and in recent years it has specialized in the repertoire of the Viennese Classics and the early Romantics, often played on period instruments.

It also runs concerts for children, families and old age pensioners and runs a series of summer concerts in collaboration with young orchestral musicians from all over Switzerland. It also regularly plays for operas in the pit of the Bienne/Solothurn Theatre.

The previous artistic directors were: Jost Meier, Ivan Anguélov, Grzegorz Nowak, Marc Tardue, Hans Urbanek and Thomas Rösner. The OSB has also regularly engaged renowned guest conductors such as Maxim Vengerov, Marcello Viotti, Armin Jordan, Heinz Holliger and Milan Horvat. The OSB is regularly invited to perform outside Bienne, as in 2008 at the Carinthian Summer Festival in Austria and in 2010 at the Feldkirch Festival in Austria. It was invited to perform at the Murten Classics Festival from 2005 to 2009 and enjoys regular collaborations with the University of the Arts in Bern.