Music Staff
Tyrone Whiting
Director of Music & Arts
412 587 0178
As Director of Music & Arts at St. Martin's, Mr. Tyrone Whiting (he/him) oversees all our music and arts ministries, outreach, and education. Tyrone says: "With a robed adult choir supported by four professional section leaders, a children’s choir Chorister program, and a robust series of concerts throughout the year, St. Martin’s is an incredibly musically active church, whose mission and outreach are at the heart of the music program. I am proud and grateful to all who participate and support our music ministries."
Winner of multiple prizes, organist, pianist, and conductor, Tyrone Whiting began his formal studies as a teenager with Nigel McClintock at Croydon Parish Church (now Croydon Minster) in London, UK. Five years later, in the summer of 2011, he was awarded the Associateship diploma of the Royal College of Organists (ARCO).
Tyrone previously graduated from the Royal College of Music (RCM) as a scholar from the Postgraduate Diploma in Performance Science course, where he was generously funded by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Studentship and supported by the Douglas and Hilda Simmonds Award. Returning to the RCM in 2016, Tyrone received a distinction in the one-year fast-track Master of Music degree course, achieving an ‘excellent’ category distinction grade in his final organ recital, and receiving the renowned Harold Darke Prize in 2017. Tyrone studied organ with both David Graham and Sophie-Véronique Cauchefer-Choplin, conducting with Peter Stark and Howard Williams, and has also undertaken historical performance projects with Jane Chapman and Lawrence Zazzo.
Graduating in 2012 with a Bachelor of Music degree in organ performance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance, where he studied organ performance with William Whitehead, Daniel Moult, and Ann Elise Smoot, Tyrone was three times winner of the Geoffrey Singleton Prize for Organ Performance (2010, 2011 & 2012), and twice winner of the Cardnell Organ Prize for ‘talents as an organist’ (2011 & 2012). Throughout the degree, Tyrone trained as a pianist under the direction of the renowned Phillip Fowke and continues to perform piano alongside his organ work. Tyrone also studied at Trinity’s Junior Department where he was awarded the Hambourg Award for Improvisation.
In September 2017, Tyrone was appointed Director of Music at Grace Church in Newark, New Jersey, USA and began working there in February 2018. At Grace Church, Tyrone extended the Chorister Choir School program, developed and expanded the adult choir, and founded a brand-new adult chamber choir, Brick City Chorus, as well as significantly raising the profile of music at Grace Church and the Arts in Newark, NJ.
Prior to Tyrone’s arrival in the USA, he was Director of Music at St. Mary’s Parish Church, Battersea from 2012 to early 2018. At St. Mary’s, Tyrone established a biennial recital series as well as a new fully-funded choral scholarship program, and conducted several large-scale concerts including Mozart and Fauré’s requiems, J. S. Bach’s St. John Passion, and Stainer’s Crucifixion. Collaborative work included conducting a recent commission by prominent British composer Simon Bainbridge written for the Choir of St. Mary’s, as well as working as accompanist for the Philharmonia Chorus under conductors Stefan Bevier and Yaron Traub.
Passionate about teaching, Tyrone was awarded the Licentiateship diploma of Trinity College, London (LTCL) in Instrumental/Vocal Teaching with a high distinction and worked in and around London as a teacher of organ, piano, and theory. He was formerly Head of Music at Elmhurst Independent School for Boys for many years and worked as an animateur in London schools and with the London Mozart Players.
Gillian Booth
Soprano Section Leader
Gillian Booth (she/her) is a singer, voice teacher, and plant/cat/dog mom based in Conshohocken, PA. She received her Bachelor’s of Music in Voice Performance from Temple University’s Boyer College of Music, and did further studies at Shenandoah University's CCM Institute. Gillian works as the Soprano Section Leader at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church, and previously at Arch Street UMC and the Choir School of Delaware. Gillian loves singing in many styles and genres, including musical theatre, classical, choral, and pop.
Marisa Miller
Alto Section Leader
Marisa Miller is a folk singer, songwriter, and mezzo-soprano hailing from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania who moved to the Philadelphia area in 2021. Passionate about early music, Marisa performed regularly as a featured soloist in Eastman School of Music's Bach cantata series and made her operatic debut there as Orfeo in Gluck's Orfeo ed Eurydice. Her performance background is varied, singing German lieder in the Austrian Alps, Italian madrigals in Rochester, NY's Kodak Hall, and indie rock around the bars of Roxborough-Manayunk. Most regularly, you can find her performing original folk music at Sam's in Ardmore on Monday nights. When she's not performing, Marisa works as an administrative assistant and volunteers regularly with the Friends of the Wissahickon. She received her graduate degree from Eastman School of Music under the tutelage of Anthony Dean Griffey, and her bachelor's from West Chester University where she studied with Stephen Ng and Randall Scarlata.
Aaron Scarberry
Tenor Section Leader
Tenor Aaron Scarberry has performed as both a singer and an instrumentalist in the United States, Canada, Italy, South Korea, and China.
His operatic roles include Maximillian/Captain in the Chinese premiere of Candide with the Xi’an Symphony; Dr. Caius in Falstaff with Bronx Opera; Nemorino in L’elisir d’amore, Laurie in Little Women, and Gherardo in Gianni Schicchiwith Opera McGill; and Tamino in The Magic Flute, the Counsel for the Plaintiff in Trial by Jury, and Don Jose (cover) in Carmen at West Virginia University.
As a concert soloist, he has performed with such ensembles as the Shanghai Symphony, Shanghai Philharmonic, and the Beijing TV&Radio Orchestra. He performed as part of the Philadelphia Chapter of Opera on Tap at the Kimmel Center’s Art Launch Festival in 2021. Mr. Scarberry was a finalist in the International Chinese Art Song Vocal Competition in Shanghai, China. He was featured on CCTV4’s television show 非常传奇 (Very Extraordinary) for the 2018 Chinese New Year celebration. His performances of major works include Haydn’s Theresienmesse, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Mass in C with the Stewart Hall Singers in Point-Claire, Quebec; Vaughan Williams’ Serenade to Music at the Church of St. Andrew & St. Paul in Montreal; Dubois’ “Deuxième Parole” from La sept paroles du Christ with West Liberty University; and the World Premiere of Adam Plantz’s O Me! O Life! with West Virginia University.
Additionally, he is an accomplished bassoonist and contrabassoonist. He was the principal bassoonist of the Berks Opera Company orchestra from 2008–2014. Previous performances include Don Giovanni (Mozart), Thaïs (Massenet), Carmen (Bizet), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Mozart), Susannah (Floyd), Aida (Verdi), and Madama Butterfly (Puccini).
Mr. Scarberry has had the privilege of studying with many great teachers such as Ben Heppner, Sanford Sylvan, and Nicholas Perna. He has earned degrees from McGill University and West Virginia University and has been a Young Artist with iSING! Suzhou International Young Artist Festival from 2015 to 2018.
Michael Miller
Bass Section Leader
Baritone Michael Miller is at the beginning of an exciting performing career. Michael is a recent member of the Florida Grand Opera Studio where he made his debut as Masetto in Don Giovanni. In 2018, Michael returned to the Glimmerglass Festival in Cooperstown, New York, where he sang the role of Lt. Audebert in Kevin Puts’ Pulitzer Prize winning opera Silent Night, for which the New York Times reviewed his performance as "spellbinding". Michael first debuted with the Glimmerglass Festival as Thomas Putnam in Francesca Zambello’s 2016 production of The Crucible.
At home in both contemporary American opera and standard repertoire, Michael's performances have spanned from the title role of Figaro in Rossini’s classic Il Barbiere di Siviglia to the transformative role of Joseph DeRocher in Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking. In 2017, he joined the Opera Theatre of Saint Louis as a Gerdine Young Artist. Michael is a graduate of Boston Conservatory at Berklee, where he appeared in the title role of Eugene Onegin. He is an alumnus of the University of Michigan and spent the summers of his undergraduate degree training at Seagle Festival. Michael is a native of Meadville, Pennsylvania but recently made Philadelphia his home.
Brooke Witherite
Children's Choir Chorister Leader
Brooke Witherite is a board certified music therapist from Clearfield, Pennsylvania. She graduated from Slippery Rock University with a degree in music therapy in 2017. After college Brooke moved to El Paso, Texas where she taught preschool music and began her music therapy career, working with people of all ages and abilities. She currently works full-time as a music therapist at Saint Joseph Villa in Flourtown Pennsylvania, in addition to teaching private piano and guitar lessons. Outside of work Brooke is a passionate keyboard/pianist in a band, and a proud dog mom to her pup Winston.
Julia Finegan
Children, Youth, and Children's Music Leader
Julia Finegan was raised as a free-range Catholic homeschooler bouncing around Philadelphia, singing in church choirs and repairing guitars so that she could teach herself how to play them. She grew up singing with her gaggle of nine siblings and inherited a soft spot for sea shanties, Irish ballads, Gregorian chant, and Chris Smithers from her parents.
Julia is currently living as a musician in Mt. Airy. She spends her time singing in churches, collecting rocks, poking bugs, singing and recording in various friends' musical projects, managing/booking for Harmonie Hall in Manayunk, hosting community dinners, and running a weekly book club for the teens in her neighborhood.
Connie Haggard
Coordinator of Liturgical Ministries
(215) 247-7466
When St. Martin’s Church welcomed volunteer singers into the adult choir in 1981, Connie (she/her) volunteered. She is still singing, and the choir has grown from nine to 35. Her St. Martin’s journey has included choir librarian, three soup kitchens, board of Women of St. Martin’s, outreach committee, book room (now out of circulation) reorganizer and coordinator, clerk of the vestry and, her favorite, playing Peppermint Patty in St. Martin’s production of You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown in 1986. Currently she works alongside over 100 parishioners as liturgical coordinator, with hopes that many more will come on board. A graduate of Cornell University with a major in English, Connie taught in Ithaca High School and in the Wissahickon School District for 17 years. She and her husband, Dick, a retired research chemist, have lived in their Fort Washington home for 46 years where they raised three sons. They are fortunate to have three grand-daughters who live nearby. When Connie and Dick are not busy at St. Martin’s, they enjoy musical events, visits with family and friends, and travel, near and far.
Fairmount String Quartet
Ensemble in Residence
Described as “likable and warmhearted” by the Philadelphia Inquirer, and “expert to the point of perfection” by the Chestnut Hill Local, the Fairmount String Quartet – Rachel Segal and Leah Kyoungwoon Kim, violins; Beth Dzwil, viola; Mimi Morris Kim, cello – has been active in the Philadelphia chamber music scene since 1984.
They are the Ensemble in Residence at the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Philadelphia.
Dedicated to bringing the intimacy and vitality of chamber music to diverse audiences, the Fairmount String Quartet makes accessibility and education core parts of their mission. In addition to works in the standard repertoire, the Fairmount String Quartet is committed to performing music of historically underperformed and living composers.
Our musicians partner with presenters and educators to custom tailor programs appropriate to each audience, offering programs for chamber music enthusiasts, newcomers to classical music, educational programs for all ages, and pop music lovers, among others.
The Fairmount String Quartet records at Spring Garden Records. Their debut album “Spoken with Strings” is available on all major streaming platforms. Their second album of works by women composers will be released in late 2022.
