About Us


For 145 years, the Guelph Concert Band has been entertaining audiences with its diverse repertoire and high quality performances.

Our members range from high school students to seniors and come from various backgrounds and lines of work. Brought together by a love of sharing music with the community, we are all individuals who play music in our spare time. Today the band has a membership of over 50 musicians who perform both challenging and varied repertoire. We are always happy to welcome new members, and if you are interested in joining the band or just checking us out, please visit the Join the Band page for more information and to let us know you are coming.

The band rehearses two and a half hours a week on Sunday nights, but achieves the sound and balance of a professional ensemble. We often have guests at our concerts, including choirs, dancers and soloists. If you or your group are interested in performing with the band, please send us your information and we will see if you or your group can be incorporated into one of our concerts. 

The Guelph Concert Band invites you to become involved with this vibrant organization. Help is always welcome. Please feel free to contact us to enquire about sponsorship opportunities. 

We hope to see you out at one of our many upcoming concerts, both in the park and in the concert hall!

If you would like to contact us for more information please send an email to info@guelphconcertband.ca


Our Conductor

LAUREN HELMER

Lauren Helmer is a music educator from Kitchener Ontario, Canada. She has been the Associate Director of Bands of Eastwood Collegiate Institute's Integrated Arts Magnet Program since 2018. Previously, Lauren taught at Preston High School in Cambridge, ON, directing both the concert and jazz ensembles. Her bands have consistently achieved the highest honours at the provincial and national level, competing at various festivals and competitions, both locally and abroad. A Guelph native, Lauren has had a strong connection to the community of music in the Guelph region for over 25 years. She found her musical calling as a trombonist in the Guelph Concert Band while she was a student at CCVI.

As a performer, Lauren was the associate principal trombonist, and second trombonist of the Guelph Symphony Orchestra for 8 years before joining the Stratford Symphony Orchestra in 2012. After 14 years of service, Lauren retired from the Canadian Army Reserve Forces in 2020. She was the trombone section commander of the internationally honoured Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Band since 2007. Prior to joining the RHLI, Lauren spent four summers performing on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, with the Band of the Ceremonial Guard, from 2007-2010.

As a conductor, Lauren has studied wind ensemble conducting with Dr. Denise Grant, the late Michael Purves-Smith, and has attended conducting clinics throughout North America. Lauren holds the position as the Assistant Conductor of the Kitchener-Waterloo Youth Concert Band, she is the Artistic Director for "Summer Music" Camp in Southampton Ontario, is the Brass coach for the Grand River Blues Camp, and has co-directed the "Intro to Jazz" camp through the Beckett School at Laurier.

Lauren is a member of the Canadian Band Association, the Ontario Band Association, the Ontario Music Educators' Association, and is the Provincial Chair of Ontario for the Women Band Directors' International.

When she is not teaching, Lauren enjoys both performing with, and directing local wind ensembles, big bands, and brass groups. Lauren holds an Honours Bachelor of Music Education from Wilfred Laurier University, and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Western Ontario. Lauren enjoys her down-time exercising, snowboarding, golfing, and spending time with her husband Andreas, and their daughter Nora.

We wish to thank our funders for their generous support: