As Idaho's largest and oldest performing arts organization, the Boise Philharmonic performs for over 50,000 people annually in concerts at the Morrison Center, the Swayne Auditorium in Nampa, in schools around the state, and in smaller recital halls and venues. The 70-member professional orchestra can trace its roots to earlier than 1885 with the formation of the Boise City Orchestra. The Boise Philharmonic performs fourteen Masterworks concerts per season, with repertoire comprising Tchaikovsky, Beethoven, Brahms and Mozart as well as commissioning new works by Idaho composers Jim Cockey and David Alan Earnest. The players in the Boise Philharmonic hail from the best music schools in the country, including the Juilliard School in New York, the Eastman School of Music, Northwestern University, San Francisco Conservatory, and many others.

The Boise Philharmonic maintains a vast array of educational programs, including classes for young children, Sounds Like Fun! concerts for young families, the Treasure Valley Youth Symphony, the Musical Movies Project featuring silent films accompanied by the Treasure Valley Youth Symphony at the Egyptian Theatre, and the annual Children's Concerts with full symphony orchestra performing for 15,000 school children in 8 free performances.

The mission of the Boise Philharmonic Association is to musically enrich, entertain and educate the people of our region through performance of symphonic music of the highest quality.