In the late 1960s, Betty Webster, Marnie Paikin and Larry Paikin developed a plan, known as "The Hamilton Plan", to bring music to the community from in-school children's concerts to international artists appearing with the Hamilton Philharmonic Orchestra.

The ensembles seeding the orchestra were headlined by Canadian Brass and the Czech String Quartet.

[2] The programme was studied by the American Symphony Orchestra League, and Chuck Mangione engaged the HPO for his Grammy Nominated album "Friends In Love."

After an interim period with Timothy Vernon as artistic advisor,[6] James Sommerville was music director of the HPO from 2007 to 2015.

[7] In 2015, the HPO named Gemma New as its music director,[8] the first female conductor to hold the post.