About Us

The Gloucester Community Concert Band has been making music, having fun, and building friendships in east-end Ottawa for the last 30 years. We are a non-profit registered charitable organization devoted to sharing our love of music with the community. We fulfill our mission of community involvement by performing at local events, parades, and festivals. We also appreciate the opportunity to perform in local retirement residences and seniors’ homes. Finally, we are committed to mentoring the youth of our community – partnering a few times a year with area school bands for both concert and practice opportunities. Two highlights of our year are our annual Christmas and Spring Concerts, but the band is always looking for fresh new challenges and opportunities to make music!

Making Music with the GCCB

Very focused on fun, the GCCB plays a wide variety of musical genres and styles. With a vibrant library that includes big band swing, contemporary concert band pieces, traditional classics, Broadway tunes, and seasonal favourites, there is something for people of all tastes, ages, and abilities.

Rehearsals are welcoming and social. Our schedule typically divides into the fall season, culminating in Christmas concerts in December, followed by a winter season that leads up to our much anticipated Spring Concert. Following that, the band enjoys the opportunity to visit as many seniors’ homes as can accommodate us from April to June.

About the Music Director

Lisa is an accomplished teacher, conductor, clinician and clarinetist with over 35 years of leadership experience within Ottawa schools and the community. Raised in southern Ontario, she moved to Ottawa in 1988 following her Music Education and Teaching degrees from Western University. She joined the Gloucester Community Concert Band as clarinetist in 1988 and has treasured her position as their conductor since 1992.

Lisa spent most of her teaching career at St Peter High School in Orleans. She led the senior and jazz bands while also leading an adult orchestra to support the school’s yearly musical theatre productions. Shows such as West Side Story, Les Misérables, Into the Woods and many others were performed under her baton. She has also been involved in select community theatre organizations (Orpheus, RAPA, Kanata Theatre and Suzart) both as music director and reed player. Her career as a conductor has led her to collaborate with Canadian composer André Jutras, Jazz artist Petr Cancura, NACO musicians Karen Donnelly and the late Don Renshaw. 
 
Since retirement in 2018, Lisa has been a sought after clinician for several high school bands within five area school boards in and around Ottawa. She was an adjudicator at the Capital Region Musicfest, she assisted with auditions for incoming students at Canterbury High School, she has guided a reading session for teachers offered by Long and McQuade and has been a guest conductor for community groups such as the Beacon Band, the Nepean Concert Band and the Concert Band of Kanata. Her latest involvement with the Ottawa New Horizons Organization has allowed her to lead adult players new to jazz.
 
When not involved in music, Lisa loves spending time with her husband and 3 adult children.