Slovak State Philharmonic Košice was founded in 1968 asthe second professional concert symphony orchestra in Slovakia. The first concert of the newly formed orchestra took place in April 1969, under the direction of the chief conductor Bystrík Režucha.

In a short time, the orchestra achieved the recognition of experts and the public and became one of the leading representatives of Slovak performing arts at home and abroad. The orchestra has given concerts at major international music festivals and in important cultural centres (Vienna, Salzburg, Berlin, Budapest, Prague, Antwerp, Madrid, Lisbon, Barcelona, Athens, Reims, Hong Kong, Luxembourg, New York). In 1994, it undertook a month-long tour of the USA, where it performed as the first Slovak symphony orchestra on the American continent. At the turn of 2014/2015, the orchestra completed a tour in the People's Republic of China for the first time in its history, which it repeated in 2016/2017 after extraordinary success.

In addition to concert activities, the Slovak State Philharmonic Košice presents its art on recordings for radio, television and record companies (160 CDs).

The orchestra has collaborated with many world-famous artists, such as Igor Oistrach, Gidon Kremer, Josef Suk, Julia Fischer, Giora Feidman, Ivan Moravec, Xavier de Maistre, Edita Gruberová, Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Sergej Kopčák, Peter Mikuláš, Peter Dvorský, Pavol Breslik, Viktor Fedotov, Emin Khachatrian, Natan Rachlin, Thomas Sanderling, Alexander Rahbari, Tadeusz Strugala, Jiří Bělohlávek, Libor Pešek, Václav Smetáček, Antoni Wit, Ľudovít Rajter, Ladislav Slovák, Ondrej Lenárd and others.

The orchestra's repertoire range covers all frequented works from the Baroque to the 21st century music. The Slovak State Philharmonic Košice is the only orchestra in Slovakia to be the main organizer of three festivals – the Košice Music Spring, the Ivan Sokol International Organ Festival, and the ARS NOVA contemporary music festival.

The chief conductor of the Slovak State Philharmonic Košice is Robert Jindra, and Zbyněk Müller is the main guest conductor of the orchestra.