Tuesday, June 23 · Facebook & YouTube LIVE · 7pm

Our Tuesday night online series continues with a live Coffee Chat hosted by Music Director Daniel Meyer, featuring 3 amazing special guests:

Tom Brooks Erie Philharmonic Chorus Director
Maureen Barber-Carey Executive Vice President, Barber National Institute
Martha Summa-Chadwick Executive Director, Music Therapy Gateway in Communications

Tonight’s talk will focus on the healing power of music - something you certainly don’t want to miss!

Tune in to our Facebook page and YouTube Channel starting at 7pm.

Our guest panelists

Martha Summa-Chadwick, DMA, has achieved a national reputation as a performer of chamber and solo works for piano and also as an advocate of the use of music in therapy. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Hartt School of Music, a Master of Music degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Kansas.  She has also completed both basic and advanced level training in certification for Neurologic Music Therapy from Colorado State University’s Center for Biomedical Research in Music.   She has studied piano under the direction of Luiz de Moura Castro, Yakov Kasman, and Jack Winerock. 

As a concert pianist, Dr. Summa-Chadwick has performed in roles of both piano and harpsichord soloist with orchestras in New York, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maine, and Alabama, and has also specialized in performing 20th century chamber and solo works. She served twenty-six years on the faculty of the Cadek Conservatory in Chattanooga, TN, where she taught neurotypical students and also persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Her varied career talents include not only that of concert pianist but also teacher and information technologist. Her TED talk, “Dance of the Neural Tango” (presented at TEDxChattanooga, February 2016) can be viewed on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCM4JPmPJcI.  She is a frequent speaker at international, national and state conferences for organizations including the World Piano Pedagogy Conference (WPPC), Music Teacher’s National Association (MTNA), American Music Therapy Association (AMTA), Society for Music Perception and Cognition (SMPC), Southeast Autism Center, Computing Sciences in Colleges, National Association for Music Education (NAfME), Society for Education, Music, and Psychology (SEMPRE) and the Tennessee Arts Commission (TAC).  

Dr. Summa-Chadwick has combined her passion of music and technology in her current role as founder and Executive Director of the 501c3 non-profit Music Therapy Gateway In Communications, Inc. (MTGIC.)  The MTGIC organization is committed to advocate for the cause of music in therapy by 1) one-on-one sessions utilizing biomedical music techniques with those who have cognition, motor, or speech challenges; 2) dissemination of information regarding biomedical music techniques via lectures and concert/lectures or concert/workshops; and 3) creation of high-level software specifications designed to automate biomedical music techniques into software.  

In 2012, she and MTGIC created the Chamber Music for Body and Soul project in order to advocate for the cause of music in therapy in both the concert hall and the lecture hall.  The concert series features both solo and chamber programs that highlight the works of composers who had neural difficulties.  In addition, forms of the dance are highlighted on these programs to lead the audience into the feel of moving to the music.

Maureen Barber-Carey, Ed.D., has served as a classroom aide, teacher, supervisor, and director throughout a long career with the Barber National Institute and the School District of the City of Erie. She currently holds the position of Executive Vice President of the Barber National Institute. Dr. Barber-Carey spearheaded the development of programs for children with autism in the early 1990's, and continues to provide administrative support and guidance to the staff of the Elizabeth Lee Black School.

She has served on numerous state-wide committees and task forces directed at improving services for children in Pennsylvania. She was also appointed by Governor Rendell to serve as the Northwest Regional Chair of the Governor's Commission on Children and Families, and serves on PNC Bank's National Advisory Board for their Growing Up Great program.

Dr. Barber-Carey holds a bachelor's degree from St. Mary's College of Notre Dame, a master's degree from the University of Missouri, and a doctorate in Education from Columbia University.

As a conductor and clinician C. Thomas Brooks has performed throughout the United States, Canada, and Europe, including such venues as Carnegie Hall in New York City, Victoria Hall in Geneva, Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Salzburg Cathedral in Salzburg, Austria. In the Northeast he is well-known as a choral conductor, voice teacher, college professor, opera conductor, and clinician.

After completing graduate work at New England Conservatory he began his career in Erie (PA), where he organized and conducted the Mercyhurst College Choir and Chamber Singers. He was also chosen as the conductor of the Symphonic Singers of Erie in their twenty-fifth anniversary season. After three years he moved to the Hartt School of Music in Hartford (CT) where he conducted the Hartt Chorale, the Collegiate Singers, the Hartt Touring Opera Theatre, and the University Civic Chorus and Chamber Choir, and the Collegium Musicum.

While in Hartford, Professor Brooks conducted the Arts in Unison Bel Canto Opera Company, Connecticut Light Opera on the Sound, was co-founder and musical director of the New Lyric Theatre, a touring educational opera production company, and served four seasons as choral conductor of the national high school European program America’s Youth in Concert. His guest conducting positions included the Portland Repertory Opera Theatre (ME) and Commonwealth Opera (MA). For several seasons he served as musical director of the Northshore Light Opera Company (MA).

Professor Brooks joined the faculty of Texas Tech University as conductor of the Collegiate Singers and Musical Theatre and worked as associate conductor of the University Concert Choir and Chamber Singers. For several summers he was musical director and conductor of the Lubbock Summer Repertory Musical Theatre. He then was appointed Director of Choral Activities and Chair of Vocal Studies at the University of Illinois at Chicago. During his time in Chicago he was the choral conductor at the Chicago Academy for the Arts and guest conductor with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra.

He then joined the faculty of Gordon College (MA) as Chair of Fine Arts and the Chair of the Department of Music, a position he held for over twenty years. While in the Boston area, he conducted the Montage Chamber Singers (MA), followed by the chamber choir Cantillare (MA). His educational video series - Singing, Acting, Surviving - coauthored with stage director Ronald Luchsinger, was released by TRL Enterprises in conjunction with Schaffner Music Publishers, the publisher of the Thomas Brooks Choral Series.

From 1999-2013 he served as Director of Music for Traditional Services at the historic Park Street Church in Boston. In 2008 he was appointed conductor of the Boston area chamber choir Lyricora (lyricora.org) a position he presently holds. In that year he also co-founded and began his tenure as Managing Director of the Salzburg Institute of Religion, Culture and the Arts (Salzburg-institute.org), with its international symposia, chamber music series, lecture series, and summer undergraduate study program in Vienna and Salzburg, Austria.

After retiring from his full-time teaching and church positions in Boston, his home base is now a 150 acre farm in Erie, which he shares with his wife soprano Susan Brooks and their dog Barkley. Professor Brooks continues his work clinicing choirs, leading choral workshops, conducting Lyricora, and overseeing the Salzburg Institute.