Golden concert for Surrey Youth Orchestra to celebrate 50 years of music
Published 7:30 pm Monday, May 4, 2026
Surrey Youth Orchestra celebrates its golden anniversary with a 50th-season concert this Saturday (May 9) at Chandos Pattison Auditorium.
The milestone night brings the SYO’s five ensembles to the 1,500-seat theatre in Fraser Heights (at Pacific Academy), from the youngest string players to the accomplished senior orchestra, promising symphonic works and heartfelt celebration.
Surrey Youth Orchestra was founded in 1976 by Lucille Lewis, who retired in 2011 and returned in 2016 to conduct a 40th-anniversary concert.
She’ll return for Saturday’s 50th-anniversary celebration, too, and remains a board member of SYO.
“All five (ensembles) will be playing a movement from Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony as the big finale,” Lewis noted. “During a rehearsal saw, it was giving me goosebumps listening to it. I was standing there with our administrator Ruth (Sun), and I was saying to her, ‘This is fabulous. It’s just overwhelming.’ It struck me, just listening to them, how far we’ve come. Compare it to when we first started, it’s just grown and grown, and the musicians are fantastic. It’s touching that we have affected all those thousands of kids along the way.”
SYO started with just 17 young musicians, who now number close to 230 of the best and brightest from around Metro Vancouver.
“Some of the musicians have gone on to play professionally or teach music, and do other things, of course,” said Sue Anderlini, longtime SYO president. “My daughter, she was an oboe player. She went into science and chemistry and now she goes up to the Arctic and does research. She just got her PhD from the University Victoria.”
SYO alumni are welcomed back for the 50th-season concert/celebration, details on surreyyouthorchestra.com. Tickets are sold for $20/$30 on showpass.com.
In February the youth orchestra hosted an open house and preview concert at Surrey Christian Secondary School, where rehearsals are held from September to May. Young musicians audition for orchestra placement and Saturday rehearsals led by Andrea Taylor (Junior orchestras), Will Chen (Intermediate Orchestra) and Joel Stobbe (Senior Orchestra)
For more details email gm@surreysymphony.com or call 604-825-1896.