Sweet Harmony: Gwen Halstead and Eric Brooker
By Cheryl Anderson Brown

More than 50 years ago, a bright young engineering student accidentally met a talented musician at a concert. Eric Brooker, fresh from the western coast of Australia, had traveled across the continent to continue his studies in Melbourne. He brought with him a love of music that was greatly enhanced when Gwendolyn Halstead entered his life.  

Little did they know that the journey they began together would bring them halfway around the world to touch the lives of students at Kennesaw State University.

When they met, Halstead was a staff pianist for the Australian Broadcasting Company, where she accompanied and coached opera singers and, sometimes, performed on live broadcasts. When she married Brooker in 1953, her life changed forever, but neither of them ever let go of their love for music or each other. After a two-year sojourn in England, where Brooker benefited from an engineering scholarship, the young couple returned to Australia.

For more than 20 years, Brooker continued his engineering career and Halstead developed a career as an opera coach, while raising two sons. Then, Brooker's employer offered him a promotion that would require a move to Chicago. Both of their teenaged sons were enthusiastic about the idea and the family took less than a week to decide to go. They left Australia on Mother's Day in 1976. Once they settled in the Windy City, Brooker and Halstead were impressed with the vibrant arts life of the area.

"We immediately began attending concerts and operas," Halstead recalled recently, "but it took me about two years before I really began working again. I think it takes about a year and a half to two years to settle into a place."

It was time well spent. Brooker secured a position with the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists at Northwestern University. She also began coaching privately, helping singers enhance their performances and stage presence. Among her students was mezzo-soprano Jennifer Larmore who, at the time, was auditioning for major opera companies but had not yet been "discovered." Larmore's husband, opera singer William Powers, also had studied with Halstead and recommended her to his wife. Larmore soon landed not one, but seven roles with the Nice Opera in France.

When Brooker retired in the mid-1990s, the couple relocated to metro Atlanta, where one of their sons was living. They purchased a spacious home in East Cobb County and began to settle into the local culture. Almost immediately, they began hearing about the music program at Kennesaw State College, but they didn't know anyone with connections at the school. "When it became a university in 1996, we were very interested in finding out more and began attending concerts," Halstead recalled. "I can't remember exactly how everything happened, but soon we were being drawn into activities."

Halstead began coaching some of Kennesaw's vocal students and accompanying them in competitions. Then, Joseph Meeks, who was then chair of the music department, invited Halstead to serve on the department's advisory board.

"Eric and Gwen became dear friends of our music program," Meeks said. "We could always count on them to give sound advice and very constructive feedback. We have been blessed to know them."

In addition to that advice, the couple also donated time, financial contributions and other resources, including a Boston piano, to the music department. They also willingly shared their extensive connections in the world of professional music--it is no coincidence that Jennifer Larmore has been scheduled to perform at Kennesaw State in the 2005-2006 season.

Over the course of 50 years, Brooker and Halstead kept in touch with nearly everyone they ever met. In fact, their home always has been a warm and welcoming "hotel" for the friends they collected on three continents. On any given day, a visitor to the Halstead-Brooker abode might meet a symphony conductor from the United States, a family member from Australia, a fellow music enthusiast from Europe or any number of the bright, up-and-coming singers who flock to Halstead's sun-filled studio overlooking a small lake. "It's a joy and a comfort to have a lot of friends," Halstead believes.

Recently, those friends have become even more precious as Brooker battled cancer for three years before finally passing away on Dec. 19, 2004. In May, dozens of friends and family members gathered to remember his quiet strength and his passion for music. "He had an extraordinary ability to discern subtleties of conducting, playing and singing," his sons wrote in his obituary. "His sense of quality of sound was unique and greatly appreciated by his amateur and professional musician friends."

Brooker's love of music lives on in his wife, their sons and their seven grandchildren, the eldest of whom will study classical guitar at Kennesaw State University in Fall 2005.

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