Ancorados nos resultados do trabalho de produção concertística da Orquestra da Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho – formação que, desde 1989, data de fundação da escola, materializou o resultado direto e visível de um projeto educativo inovador, tendo apresentado desde então centenas de concertos um pouco por todo o país e também no estrangeiro (Escócia, Alemanha, Espanha, Brasil) -, a Escola Profissional de Música de Espinho (EPME), com o apoio da Câmara Municipal de Espinho, entenderam avançar, em julho de 2005, para a criação da Orquestra Clássica de Espinho (OCE), evoluindo assim para um modelo de formação orquestral mais alargado e com um projeto artístico mais profundo e ambicioso, o qual, embora mantendo uma forte ligação à génese académica da orquestra, evoluiu no sentido da sua consolidação como estrutura orquestral de carácter profissional.
Anchored on the results of the concert production work of the Espinho Professional Music School Orchestra – a group that, since 1989, when the school was founded, has been the direct and visible result of an innovative educational project, having since then presented hundreds of concerts throughout the country and also abroad (Scotland, Germany, Spain, Brazil) – the Espinho Professional School of Music (EPME), with the support of the Espinho City Council, decided to move forward in July 2005, to create the Espinho Classical Orchestra (OCE), thus evolving into a broader model of orchestral training with a more profound and ambitious artistic project, which, while maintaining a strong connection to the orchestra's academic origins, has evolved towards its consolidation as a professional orchestral structure.
The OCE was thus formed as an orchestra that integrates, in a balanced and artistically structured way, young musicians at the beginning of their professional careers and students from the EPME – without excluding the occasional collaboration of musicians with extensive professional experience – in an innovative operating model in which, alongside the opportunity given to young instrumentalists to gain regular practice as orchestra musicians in strictly professional conditions, thus stimulating their musical activity and experience during the transition to the job market, there is also the possibility of providing young EPME students with access to higher-level orchestral practice, under a close artistic supervision and tutorial system, allowing them to perform highly demanding technical and artistic repertoires and providing them with essential preparation for their future academic and professional careers.
The OCE performs regularly, generally staging between six and eight symphonic programs per season, favoring a diverse program that fundamentally covers the standard orchestral repertoire from the late 18th century to roughly the first half of the 20th century, without excluding, of course, the interpretation of more recent works depending on the programmatic contexts of each creation. Occasionally, the OCE presents artistic projects that cross over with other musical genres, such as jazz, fado, flamenco, and others.
Since 2006, the OCE's performances at the Coliseu do Porto (Promenade Concerts and Mozart Festival), the Helena Sá e Costa Theater, the Aveiro and Estarreja Cinemas, the Vila Flor Cultural Center in Guimarães, the Figueira da Foz Arts Center, the São Francisco Convent in Coimbra, the Paraíso Cinema in Tomar, the Casa da Música, the Vila Real Theater, among others, and at the Festival dos Oceanos in Lisbon in 2009. In recent years, he has performed with renowned soloists such as Alexis Cardenas, Noa Wildschut, Mário Laginha, Elisabete Matos, Romain Garioud, Elisso Virsaladze, Ilya Gringolts, Alina Pogostkina, Miklós Perényi, Yamandu Costa, Gilles Apap, Manuela Azevedo (Clã), David Grimal, Richard Galliano, Edmar Castañeda, Cristina Branco, Leia Zhu, Vozes da Rádio, the Septeto de Juan Carmona, among others.
In 2022, OCE recorded the album Lady in Satin with singer Kandace Springs, released in the US by SRP Record, a recreation of Billie Holiday's iconic 1958 album of the same name.
OCE's Artistic Director and Principal Conductor is Maestro Pedro Neves, with guest conductors each season including Cesário Costa, Jean-Marc Burfin, Jan Wierzba, and Nuno Coelho.