The Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra was founded in 1936 by Mark Paverman, People’s Artist of Russia. Since 1995 it has been led by Dmitry Liss, a representative of the Moscow school of conducting and a graduate of Dmitry Kitaenko’s class at the Moscow Conservatoire. Each season the ensemble presents over seventy programmes and more than a hundred concerts. It has recorded some twenty discs (together with Warner Classics International and Mirare). Abroad, general management of the orchestra is undertaken by the agency Productions Internationales Albert Sarfati (France).

Over the years, the orchestra has worked with such conductors as Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Krzysztof Penderecki, Mikhail Pletnev, Vladimir Fedoseyev, Dmitry Kitaenko, Valery Gergiev, Andrey Boreyko, Klaus Tennstedt, Jean-Claude Casadesus, Michiyoshi Inoue, Fabio Mastrangelo and Daniel Raiskin.

The orchestra has appeared with many outstanding soloists, among them Mstislav Rostropovich, Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Boris Berezovsky, Denis Matsuev, Frederick Kempf, Nikolai Lugansky, Yuri Bashmet, Nikolai Petrov, Vadim Repin, Sergei Krylov, Alexander Kniazev, Eliso Virsaladze, Natalia Gutman, Liana Isakadze, Peter Donohoe, Olga Borodina, Alena Baeva and Sayaka Seji. From 2007–2013 the Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra has appeared at numerous international festivals, among them La Folle Journйe (France, Spain, Japan), the Radio France Festival, the International Piano Festival in La Roque d’Anthйron, the Classical Music Festival in Saint-Riquier, the Nuits de la Citadelle in Sisteron), the Arts Square international winter festival, the II Festival of World Symphony Orchestras (Moscow), the Crescendo music festival (Moscow, St Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kaliningrad), Stars on Baikal (Irkutsk), the Eurasia international music festival (Yekaterinburg), Russian Christmas at the Kennedy Center (Washington) and the Boris Berezovsky Festival (Yekaterinburg).

The Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra was one of the organisers of the major Russian project The Symphony Music Forum of Russia in Yekaterinburg. In 2010 and 2012 during this forum the orchestra appeared under four conductors – Dmitry Kitaenko, Dmitry Liss, Andrey Boreyko and Enkhe. The Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra is the only orchestra in Russia to have founded its own competition which aims to stimulate the development of symphony music for children. Between 2006 and 2012, seventy-four composers took part in the Peter and the Wolf open all-Russian competition for the composition of symphony music for children. In the 2011–2012 season the orchestra had its own subscription series at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre in St Petersburg, which was conducted by Valery Gergiev and Dmitry Liss with soloists Denis Matsuev, Vadim Repin, Boris Berezovsky and the Mariinsky Chorus and soloists.

In March 2013 the ensemble undertook its annual tour to Europe. Two of the four concerts were held in Graz in Austria (Stefaniensaal), one in Metz in France (Arsenal) and one at the Salle Pleyel in Paris. The concert by the Urals Philharmonic Orchestra in Paris saw the capital of the Urals submit its presentation to become home to the EXPO-2020 international exhibition. Dmitry Liss was an official Ambassador for Yekaterinburg’s application to host this exhibition.

On 20 September 2013 Dmitry Liss conducted the Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra in a performance at the Beethovenfest in Bonn, making it only the second Russian symphony orchestra to have taken part in the festival in the entire course of its history. 1996 saw the establishment of the Urals Academic Philharmonic Orchestra Charitable Foundation, thanks to which the orchestra has been furnished with some amazing instruments including a Vuillaume string quartet and masterpieces by Bergonzi, Guarneri, Ruggieri and other great craftsmen of the past.