The European Orchestra Festival has been organized every third year for more than 30 years.The festival has been arranged all over Europe by members of the European Orchestra Federation (EOFed), and its predecessor, the Europäische Vereinigung von Liebhaberorchestern (EVL)/European Associations of Amateur Orchestras (EAAO). Each time, the festival moves to a new country and is hosted by one of the national member organizations of EOFed or by a local orchestra/music organization.

1985 United Nations Year of Music, and founding assembly of the EVL. The Assembly decided to organize a European Orchestra Festival every third year.

1988 The first Festival is held in Friedrichshafen, Germany

1991 Solothurn, Switzerland

1994 Brno, Czech Republic

1997 Leiden, The Netherlands

2000 Lyon, France

2003 Vaduz/Werdenberg, Principality of Liechtenstein/County of Werdenberg (Switzerland)

2006 Chemnitz, Germany

2009 Dalfsen, The Netherlands

2012 Tallinn, Estonia

2015 Cremona, Italy

2018 Bergen, Norway

2022 Plovdiv, Bulgaria

2025 Avignon, France