On the invitation of the new orchestral society, Rupert Hanson was appointed as the first Musical Director/Conductor of the orchestra. Rupert with single-minded determination and boundless energies started the process of building the orchestral base and providing opportunities young people from the former city youth orchestra to continue to learn and enjoy playing their instruments within an orchestral setting alongside music teachers and other accomplished instrumental players. Rupert was leading rehearsals by November. Rupert also successfully secured a grant of £7,000 from Northeast Ford Dealers to compliment the £2,000 City Council Millennium initiative, thus establishing a sound financial base for the Orchestra. Soon afterwards CoSMOS also received a £10,000 grant from the Vardy Foundation to support the development of the orchestra.​

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The first CoSMOS public performance was held at West Park Church on Stockton Road on 29th February 2000 a review in the Sunderland Echo under the headline ‘Classical favourites bring delight’ said “the new musical society is to be congratulated on a remarkable achievement with the Fingal’s Cave Overture opening the proceedings’ This was colourfully and confidently played’ 

In March 2000 at a general meeting of CoSMOS a constitution was adopted a full committee established with David Mills as Chairperson and CoSMOS became a registered charity in September 2000. David Mills has presided as Chairperson between 2000- 2006 and again from 2010 – 2020. In 2011 a decision was taken to rename the society as simply Sunderland Symphony Orchestra (SSO). 

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Over the past 25 years, the Orchestra has had three Musical Directors/Conductors. Following the unfortunate passing of Rupert Hanson in 2009, Mun Ying Lin, a cellist within the orchestra and concert pianist, served as interim musical director for several months. Ray Farr was subsequently appointed as the permanent musical director in October 2009. Ray was at the time the conductor in residence at Durham University and previously conductor to the Grimethorpe Colliery Band that featured in the film ‘Brassed Off’ Ray was able to develop the orchestral talents of players built up by Rupert Hanson and introduced a more ‘avant-grade’ dimension to performance content. Ray had established himself as a prolific composer and had produced a series of CDs entitled ‘Best by Farr’ and had by described by Frank Renton from the BBC as ‘Ray the magic pen’. Ray retired from the university in September 2013 and his last performance as musical director was in December 2013 and moved to Norway and accepting invitations to conduct orchestra worldwide. Paul Judson who was the associate conductor to the orchestra became the third musical director after Ray Farr. Paul was a former Bandmaster of the Devonshire & Dorset Regiment Band, and introduced pieces of Light music into concert programmes, and a feature that has continued with ever since. Paul’s last concert as musical director was in July 2018. SSO present musical director David Milner picked up the baton on the occasion of the Orchestra’s 18th anniversary concert in October 2018. David began his musical career as a tenor horn player with the Cargo Fleet Steelworks Band in the 1960s. He subsequently joined the Band of HM Lifeguards, where he played both the horn and cello. In addition to being a peripatetic music teacher, David has also served as the musical director of the Newcastle Concert Band.

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In its 25-year history, the orchestra has had only two leaders. David McCourt led the orchestra from its inception until 2012, followed by Judith Thompson from 2012 to 2021. David then returned in 2021 to lead the orchestra once more. Though Jean Provine, lead the orchestra at its inaugural millennium concert.

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In 2018, the orchestra received a grant from Arts Council England, allowing SSO to appoint a development manager to implement a two-year pilot outreach program in partnership with Sunderland Music Hub. The programme aims were to provide orchestral and instrumental outreach education to schools across the city and enable children to perform music in public concerts. The outreach programme concluded with a remarkable 'sold out' concert of Peter & the Wolf at the Sunderland Empire.

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Plans for celebrating the 21st anniversary of SSO were not realised due to the Covid-19 lockdowns, however a good number of the players from the orchestra ‘kept active’ by virtual zoom links and producing video recordings for the SSO website , and to mark the 21st year of SSO the City Council East Area Committee Community Chest funded Phil Jackson a trumpet player & composer to compose a piece of music marking  SSO 21st anniversary, ‘Celebration March 21’which captures a history of the orchestra and a celebration of our twin cities friendships with Essen in Germany and Saint-Nazaire in France. Also producing a 'Christmas Sleigh Ride' video for the Mayor of The City of Sunderland online message to residents.

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Reflecting upon the last 25 years Mark Greenfield a founding member, Vice- President and the present Relational Lead of SSO has commented “ Many doubted the success of the venture, but those of us who were spirited enough to have a belief that we would facilitate a long lasting commemoration of a new millennium by building and establishing on orchestra for the city , have been proved right, in the early years the orchestra size of 40 has now grown to something just short of 60. The orchestra now enjoys a loyal audience of approximately 350 individuals, an increase from 180 in its early years. Over the past 25 years, around 350 people have been members of the orchestra, contributing not only through their musical performances but also by composing some fascinating musical pieces”.