Susan Barber Kahro is recognized for her passion and commitment to excellence in music education during her 30-year career with the Peel District School Board. Susan was the Music and Arts Department Head and served as Music Consultant for the Board. During her tenure at the Woodlands School she conducted numerous nationally award-winning concert bands and wind ensembles, the Peel Honour Band as well as jazz bands, chamber ensembles and music theatre productions. Following her retirement, Susan continued to conduct various ensembles including the Chamber Orchestra and Concert Band at McMaster University, the York University Symphonic Winds, the Hamilton Philharmonic Youth Orchestra, and served as Assistant Conductor of the Rose Orchestra in Brampton.
Susan holds a Bachelor of Music in Performance from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Education from the University of Western Ontario and a Master of Music from Northwestern University in Illinois. Her music studies have taken her to London, England where she studied with Howard Snell of the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble and to Chicago, Illinois where she studied with Will Scarlett of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. She has a diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music (Toronto) Orchestral Training Program and studied at the Banff School of Fine Arts for several summers with the Canadian Brass. Conducting studies have included workshops with John Paynter, Mallory Thompson, Gillian Mackay as well as the Saito conducting technique with Wayne Towes and Professor Morihiro Okabe.
Susan is a PhD candidate in Music at York University in Toronto where her research interests include Estonian Wind Orchestra Music and the role of music and identity. She is an active adjudicator, clinician and currently performs with the Intrada Brass of Oakville as well as singing with the Strata Vocal Ensemble of Hamilton.