The Fleetwood-area high school campus of Surrey Christian School is a very musical place Saturday mornings when members of Surrey Youth Orchestra come together.
The 2024-25 season started Sept. 7 with the first rehearsals of SYO's five groups including Prelude Strings, Intermezzo Strings, Intermediate Orchestra, Senior Orchestra and Piccolo Strings.
Andrea Lewis-Taylor, a 10th-year conductor with Surrey Youth Orchestra, follows in the footsteps of her mother Lucille Lewis, who co-founded the organization back in 1976.
"It's funny," Taylor said, "because sometimes there are sports tournaments or martial arts happening in the school on Saturdays, and we'll often see people wander in the room, look around and, you know, I can see they're thinking, 'What is this?' A lot of people don't realize this exists in Surrey."
Lewis-Taylor conducts three groups of the youngest musicians of Surrey Youth Orchestra, which started small in the 1970s and now boasts more than 200 students under the artistic-direction of Joel Stobbe. This year, former student Will Chen joined as a third conductor of SYO.
"We expanded to a fifth orchestra last year – Piccolo Strings, the youngest ones – and this fall we are transforming our Symphonic Strings into an Intermedate Symphony Orchestra, a full orchestra with winds, not just strings," Lewis-Taylor explained.
"The growth has been impressive. When I started I had a group of 16 kids and now my three groups have a total of over 110 (students)."
There are challenges recruiting young players of certain instruments, however.
"We audition in May and August, but for the new orchestra (Intermediate) we're still looking for brass, especially, but winds as well," Lewis-Taylor said.
"There's no lineup of oboe players knocking down our door," she added with a laugh. "With the strings, because the programs aren't really offered in the school, you've got families that are seeking private lessons right from the start, whereas a lot of the brass and winds (musicians) are learning at a later time and only in a group setting, in school. There's a bit of a head-start with strings players because they tend to start earlier."
The history, rehearsal times and fees to join Surrey Youth Orchestra are detailed on surreyyouthorchestra.com.
The 2024-25 calendar includes an open house Oct. 12 at Surrey Christian Secondary School (11 a.m., 15353 92 Ave.), followed by a Sounds of the Season concert Dec. 14 at Chandos Pattison Auditorium (Pacific Academy), in Fraser Heights.
"The timing of the open house gives us a month to work on our pieces, and then we invite people in the community to come in for a look at what all the different groups are doing," Lewis-Taylor noted.
Her mother Lucille, now 82, still attends SYO concerts and presents a scholarship to a graduating student. In 2016, during a 40th-anniversary concert, she came out of retirement to conduct. "Maybe we can convince her to do that again when we have our 50th anniversary in 2026, but I don't know," Lewis-Taylor said.
