The Houghton Philharmonia is a flexible group of 45-60 musicians that includes strings, winds, and percussion. The Chamber Orchestra is a smaller group of string players selected from within the Philharmonia and joined by winds and percussion, as needed. Student membership is by audition. Both music and non-music majors participate in these ensembles, supplemented by players from the College communities.

The orchestra reads, rehearses, and performs standard repertoire from all the major musical periods, including works of Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and Twentieth-Century masters, as well as music of our time. Historically, the Philharmonia has toured with the Houghton College Choir, has accompanied Opera Workshop and Musical Theatre productions, has performed concertos with several faculty soloists and winners of student concerto/aria competitions, and has presented portions of Händel’s Messiah with the Houghton Choral Union. Several orchestral programs are performed each year on the Houghton campus and in community venues.

The Houghton Philharmonia is under the direction of Brian Casey (DA, University of Northern Colorado). The graduate conductor is Diana Geiger.

The string faculty at Houghton consists of Donna Lorenzo , viola and violin (BM Houghton; MM, Juilliard School of Music; DMA candidate, Eastman), Rintaro Wada , 'cello, (MM,Eastman), and Paul Kroll , bass (MM, SUNY-Fredonia).