中央民族樂團成立於一九六○年，首任團長為中國音樂家協會主席、著名作曲家李煥之。樂團由民族管弦樂隊、民歌合唱隊、創作研究室等部門組成。
樂團湧現出了諸如秦鵬章、王鐵錘、張黎、劉文金、姜嘉鏘、胡炳旭、閻惠昌等著名音樂家，並擁有一大批在國內國際大賽中獲獎的優秀青年民族音樂人才。國內外著名音樂家嚴良堃、韓中傑、鮑蕙喬、陳澄雄、三木稔、朴範薰等都曾與樂團進行過合作演出。
建團以來，樂團的演出遍及全國各地，並應邀到美國、前蘇聯、英國、法國、德國、奧地利、丹麥、西班牙、希臘、南斯拉夫、日本、韓國、朝鮮、新加坡等國家及香港、澳門、台灣地訪問演出，受到國內外聽眾的高度讚揚，曾榮獲第六屆和第十三屆青年聯歡節最高榮譽金獎。一九九三年，與日本音樂集團、韓國國立國樂管弦樂團共同創建了亞洲樂團，以促進亞洲民族音樂的創作和交流。
一九九五年春節，樂團首創了具有濃郁中國民族特色的《新春音樂會》，獲得廣泛讚譽。此後，一年一度的《新春音樂會》成為每年春節期間的民族音樂盛會。
一九九七年，樂團應邀赴美國紐約、華盛頓、芝加哥、洛杉磯、三藩市等十七個城市進行巡迴演出，並在紐約卡內基音樂廳演出，成為第一個入主卡內基音樂廳的中國樂團，引起轟動。《紐約時報》、《洛杉磯時報》等美國最有影響的報刊紛紛發表樂評，盛讚樂團的精湛演奏。一九九八年春節，樂團赴奧地利維也納金色大廳舉辦了《中國虎年新年音樂會》，一九九九年春節，樂團再度赴奧地利維也納金色大廳舉辦了《中國兔年新年音樂會》，並在德國柏林愛樂大廳和丹麥等世界著名的音樂廳進行了極為成功的演出，受到了廣泛讚譽，標誌著中國民樂已經走向世界。
National Traditional Orchestra of China Founded in 1960 with the famous musician Ll Huanzhi as the first leader. The orchestra was consisted of a Chinese orchestra, a choir and composing and researching units etc.
In the past years, many many great musicians and performers were trained and brought up by the orchestra. A great number of famous musicians and conductors in China and from overseas had cooperated with it too.
The orchestra had toured and performed successfully around the world. It won the gold medals in the 6’h and 13’h World Youth Festival. In 1993, it jointly founded the Asian Orchestra w ith another orchestra in Japan and Korea.
In 1995, the first New Year Concert was successfully held by the orchestra and set up this most popular series of concerts in the coming years.
In 1997, it toured around 17 cities in the USA and was the first Chinese orchestra that performed in the world famous Carnegie Hall.
In 1998 and 1999, it performed the New Year Concerts in the Vienna Golden Hall and again was the first Chinese orchestra. to perform there. It had also made concerts in various world famous concert halls and brought the Chinese music to the world.