White Rock orchestra to be Canada\u2019s first \u2018inclusive\u2019 ensemble<\/p>\n
Published 9:00 am Wednesday, July 22, 2026<\/p>\n
White Rock City Orchestra is on its way to becoming the first \u2018inclusive\u2019 orchestra in Canada. <\/p>\n
That\u2019s according to artistic director Bruce Petherick, who appeared before city council July 13 to share some of the history and accomplishments of the ensemble \u2013 and also some of its current challenges.<\/p>\n
\u201cSome of you who know me will recognize why inclusion is really important for me,\u201d Petherick \u2013 who is autistic \u2013 told council.<\/p>\n
He said he divides his day between being an advocate for those with autism and being a professional musician, but he has also been working on making the orchestra more inclusive altogether.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have people with mobility issues,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne of our violinists is severely visually impaired, and that involves me getting the music that she needs to play, I need to put it into a special program, she gets it converted, and then she has a braille reader to play. This normally costs $250 per page \u2013 I do it for nothing (because) we can\u2019t have a barrier like that for a musician.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added there are also a lot of neuro-divergent members in the orchestra.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could go on and on about the difficulty neuro-divergent people have in a regular orchestra \u2013 there\u2019s a whole bunch of things we kind of need, but because I\u2019m running it, I can sort of manage that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petherick said that likely by September or October the orchestra will be officially announcing it is the first inclusive orchestra in the country.<\/p>\n
That will include \u201cadaptive instruments,\u201d he noted, adding that he has many connections within the disability music community working with people that need them.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t know what an adaptive instrument is \u2013 let\u2019s say it\u2019s a flute, there\u2019s a design modification to the flute that allows somebody with a mobility issue (to play it). Especially with lowering tension, you can get a flute that\u2019s built into something that relaxes around the neck and comes around the back. <\/p>\n
\u201cThis is still a pretty new thing around the world, \u2026 but I\u2019m encouraging anybody who has an adaptive instrument in Vancouver to come and avail themselves of us.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the history of the current orchestra can be traced back to the early 1970s and the Silver Comets, an ensemble for retired people based at the Kent Street Activity Centre, Petherick noted, however, that there were earlier community orchestras as far back as the the 1920s and the 1930s \u2013 \u201cso let\u2019s say we\u2019ve been around for 100 years.\u201d<\/p>\n
As the ensemble broadened its to include younger members and music students, it was renamed the White Rock Community Orchestra in the 1980s, and stayed that \u2013 under the direction of a succession of professional musicians \u2013 until 2020, when it was rebranded the White Rock City Orchestra.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea behind that \u2013 and that predates my involvement in the orchestra \u2013 was that there is a negative connotation to the idea of a community orchestra. I disagree, but I get the point. We are part of the city, part of the city\u2019s cultural landscape.\u201d<\/p>\n
Petherick said his own involvement in the orchestra dates back to the November 2024 concert at for which Vancouver jazz artist Dee Daniels was a special guest. Held at Peace Portal Alliance Church in South Surrey, it represented a high-water mark for audience attendance in recent years, with some 650 attendees.<\/p>\n
With a subsequent move to St. Mark\u2019s Anglican Church in Ocean Park as a permanent venue (which has a maximum capacity of 250 people) audience sizes have shrunk to an average of around 200, although the last Christmas show in 2025 drew in some 485 people over two nights, Petherick said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have severe limitations with performance (spaces) in this area,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are kind of limited to working in churches and that has some problems, especially around Christmastime. Many members of the orchestra are not comfortable performing in a church for various reasons. So looking at a venue in White Rock and South Surrey that could handle 500 people would be advantageous for us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve hit the limit \u2013 we can\u2019t go past 250. It\u2019s relatively easy for me to get 250 people without doing too much work, but (the problem is) we can\u2019t handle the overflow.\u201d<\/p>\n
The orchestra is also limited in rehearsal space and storage space, Petherick said.<\/p>\n
Although the orchestra now rehearses in a room at the Centennial Arena complex, following council moving its meetings to the Gallery Room of White Rock Community Centre, storage remains a challenge, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe desperately need more storage space. At the moment the entire music library is in my living room \u2013 and the tympani, we were going to sell them, but now we need them.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"White Rock orchestra to be Canada\u2019s first \u2018inclusive\u2019 ensemble Published 9:00 am Wednesday, July 22, 2026 White Rock…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819015,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,44],"class_list":["post-819014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819014\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}