The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra ranks among Europe's leading ensembles. Each year, the orchestra performs more than one hundred concerts, which together attract 150.000 visitors. Most of these concerts take place in the Rotterdam concert hall de Doelen, but the orchestra also regularly appears on the major international stages and in the Rotterdam community centres.

The orchestra programme has three major focal points: the symphonic repertoire of the classical and romantic periods, the masterworks of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the music that straddles the borders between classical and light music, jazz, musical theatre and world music. Educational activities occupy an important place in the orchestra's activities. The Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra is continuously developing and is always looking for new audiences.

In addition, the Rotterdam Philharmonic is the moving force behind the Gergiev Festival Rotterdam: an annual several-day music festival that will experience its tenth edition in September 2005.

The orchestra employs 120 musicians and 26 staff members.