WSO Board Welcomes New Board Member – Bernadette Boerckel

Recently, the WSO Board welcomed Bernadette Boerckel. Having been an administrator in two school districts, she brings a background of partnering with professional arts organizations to write and receive dozens of EITC and PA Council of the Arts Residency grants, benefiting the visual, media and performing arts experiences of thousands of students within and beyond the classrooms of this area. She anticipates continuing that work with WSO.
“As a child, I found my “spark” in the world of theatre, music and dance,” she remembers, “and I was blessed with opportunities and mentors to encourage me in my interests.” As research reports, the arts emerge as one of the top “sparks” for adolescents in this country. Bernadette hopes to encourage that interest through WSO.
Professionally, she was the soprano soloist on four New World Record recordings with Rick Benjaminʼs Paragon Ragtime Orchestra, is a regular collaborator with husband Dr. Gary Boerckel for recitals and chamber music performances including several Simply Grand Concerts for WVIA. WSO fans may recall her as a soloist in the 2017 Broadway Celebration and as singing for the Pops on Pepper Street concerts.
She serves as a church cantor at St. Boniface Catholic Church in Williamsport.
Bernadetteʼs musical family includes Gary, whose program notes and pre-concert programs readers may be familiar with, and 12-year old Madeleine, who sings in her church choir, plays in her school bands and studies clarinet with Judy Burke. The family resides in Muncy.