Erie Philharmonic Youth Chorale

Sharon Downey is the Music Director at the Episcopal Cathedral of St Paul in Erie, PA where she has served since 1991. In 2011 she was given the title of Canon Musician in recognition of twenty years of dedicated service to the Cathedral the the Episcopal Diocese of Northwestern PA. Under her direction the Cathedral Choir of Men and Women has traveled abroad and served week-long residencies singing daily services at Canterbury Cathedral and Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford. They have also sung services at Chichester Cathedral, The American Cathedral in Paris and Coventry Cathedral.

In 1992 she established a Chorister program as an outreach ministry to the children and youth of the Erie community. Singers were recruited from the Cathedral parish, local schools, and community groups. The choir is structured on the principles of the Royal School of Church Music, an organization that promotes excellence in musical and choral training for young singers. In addition to singing services and concerts at the Cathedral, the Choristers have appeared with the Erie Chamber Orchestra, the Erie Philharmonic, the Erie Junior Philharmonic and the Erie Opera Theatre. They have traveled with the Cathedral Choir and have sung at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC, and venues in Ohio, Illinois, Maryland and Canada.

The combined choirs sing services of Choral Evensong, Christmas Lessons and Carols as well as concerts at the Cathedral. They have sung for many community events including Downtown d’Lights and sporting events. The choirs have recorded two CDs: O Come, Let Us Sing Unto the Lord in 1996 and Hold On! Keep Your Hand on the Plow, The Spirituals of Harry T. Burleigh in 2019.

Ms. Downey has served as guest conductor for Chorister Festivals in Tucson, AZ, Atlanta, GA, and State College, PA. She has also served as a consultant for churches beginning similar community chorister programs. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Burleigh Legacy Alliance. She is a member of and has served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Anglican Musicians.

A graduate of the Indiana University School of Music in Bloomington, Indiana, Ms. Downey holds degrees in Organ Performance and Church Music with a concentration in Choral Conducting and is certified in Orff Schulwerk, a developmental approach to music training.

Erie Junior Philharmonic Chorus

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, which he held until 2019.

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 Henry. Professor Brooks continues his work clinicing choirs, leading choral workshops, conducting Lyricora, and overseeing the Salzburg Institute.