The Oxford Chamber Orchestra is a unique ensemble because it combines members of the performance faculty playing side-by-side with the most advanced students in the department. It gives the students the opportunity of working in a professional level orchestra, having to prepare challenging repertoire with very few concentrated rehearsals, and paying attention to details of style, accuracy and artistry.

The number of musicians varies according to the needs of each particular program. This gives the ensemble the flexibility to perform a wide range of repertoire from different epochs by composers of all nationalities, ranging from Mozart to Mahler and Artie Shaw. The Oxford Chamber Orchestra has benefited from collaborations with renowned guest artists. In October 2000, many of the university ensembles presented a millennium concert of award-winning composer Michael Colgrass's music. In this concert, the Oxford Chamber Orchestra premiered Colgrass's commissioned work, Ghosts of Pangea. Earlier that year, the Chamber Orchestra accompanied clarinet virtuoso Richard Stoltzman, who performed the Clarinet Concerto by Mozart. In 2002, Yoon Lee, conductor of the Salzburg Symphony Orchestra, conducted the ensemble in its spring semester concert. In the Fall of 2004 Ricardo Averbach conducted an acclaimed joint concert featuring the Oxford Chamber Orchestra and the Moscow Chamber Orchestra.

The Oxford Chamber Orchestra is committed to innovative programming, especially works that are interdisciplinary, according to the mission of the School of Fine Arts.