The Varaždin Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1995. The Orchestra mainly plays in a series of concerts held in the Croatian National Theatre Hall in Varaždin as well as during the Varaždin Baroque Evenings festival. They also play around Croatia, and have visited Slovenia, Germany, and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Varaždin Chamber Orchestra has recorded three CDs with maestro Pavle Dešpalj, who is their honorary member. Although they often appear without a conductor, the Orchestra has worked with numerous renowned conductors, including Pavle Dešpalj, Milan Horvat, Kazushi Ono, Marko Letonja, Vjekoslav Šutej, Uroš Lajovic, Vladimir Kranjčević, Mladen Tarbuk, Ivo Lipanović, Zoran Juranić, Ivan Repušić. They also collaborate with acclaimed instrumentalists and singers, including: Ruža Pospiš-Baldani, Dubravka Tomšič-Srebotnjak, Dunja Vejzović, Višnja Mažuran, Monika Leskovar, Karmen Pečar, Renata Pokupić, Radovan Vlatković, David Geringas, Valter Dešpalj, Dora Schwarzberg, Branimir Slokar, Peter Soave, Stanko Arnold, Ištvan Römer, Lovro Pogorelić, Božo Paradžik, Inva Mula... Even the concert master position in the Orchestra is often filled by excellent visiting violinists: Leon Spierer, Catherine Mackintosh, Taras Pečeny, Tamara Smirnova, Aleksandar Ivić, Boro Martinić, Mario Korunić, Latica Honda-Rosenberg, and Stefan Milenković. The Varaždin Chamber Orchestra has won a number of national awards.