Leo Sowerby

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Leo Sowerby (born May 1, 1895 in Grand Rapids , Michigan , † July 7, 1968 in Port Clinton , Ohio ) was an American composer .

Life

Sowerby began composing at the age of ten. His first violin concerto was performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in 1913 . From 1917 to 1919 he worked in Chicago as a military bandmaster. From 1921 to 1924 he studied as a Rome Prize winner at the American Academy in Rome . From 1925 he was a professor at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, where Robert Stewart , Gail Kubik , William Ferris , Florence Price , Ned Rorem , Norman Luboff , Maylon Merrill and Gerald Near were among his students, in 1927 he became organist and choirmaster of the St James's Episcopal Church in Chicago.

For the cantata Canticle of the Sun he received the Pulitzer Prize in 1946 . In 1962 he became the founding director of the College for Church Musicians at Washington National Cathedral .

He composed more than five hundred works, including five symphonies , two cello and two piano concertos, a violin and an organ concert, a symphonic poem for two pianos and orchestra, a classical concert for organ and strings, chamber music works, several cantatas and anthems and an oratorio .

In 1935 he was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Members: Leo Sowerby. American Academy of Arts and Letters, accessed April 27, 2019 .