Steve Weiser, executive director of the Erie Chamber Orchestra in Erie, Pennsylvania, has co-authored an article in the March 2015 issue of Exceptional Parent, a magazine focusing on the special-needs community. The article—covering a festival the Erie Chamber Orchestra has planned from April 13 to 17 to highlight music therapy for children with autism—is co-written with Martha Summa-Chadwick, a musician, educator, and advocate for using biomedical music techniques in therapy. Festival events will include therapy sessions and in-service presentations for therapists/educators at Barber National Institute, which is based in Erie and serves people with disabilities; a radio broadcast on Erie-based NPR affiliate WQLN; and a science-and-music presentation at Gannon University. The festival will conclude with ECO Music Director Matthew Kraemer leading the ECO in a “Burden of Genius” program featuring Wolf’s Scherzo and Finale; Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, with the Slippery Rock University Concert Choir and Summa-Chadwick on piano; and Schumann’s Fourth Symphony. The festival is part of an ongoing partnership between ECO and the Barber National Institute established in 2013.
Posted March 12, 2015
