With a history going back to 1815 when it consisted of a ramshackle group of 14 members playing for Emperor Franz I, the actual Kaiserjäger (the Imperial Rifles) were an elite regiment recruited in the Tyrolean Alpine provinces of the Habsburg empire.

October 8, 1971 marks the official foundation of the orchestra in its current and proper form under the leadership of Prof. Siegfried Somma, and in 1973 the first LP was recorded. The orchestra has travelled as far as Germany, Poland, Hungary, Liechtenstein, the Ukraine, Thailand, and the USA. Major Hannes Apfolterer is the current (since 1994) Militärkapellmeister.