Leo Sowerby (1895-1968)
Works for Organ and Orchestra

Leo Sowerby knew his life vocation prior to leaving elementary school. Born 1 May 1895, in Grand Rapids, Michigan, his first composition came two weeks after his tenth birthday. Both as composer and pianist, his talents quickly went beyond the Grand Rapids musical scene and at the age of fourteen, he was lodged in Chicago to continue his training. That city would be his home until six years prior to his death.

Before his nineteenth birthday his catalog numbered more than ninety works, including a Violin Concerto that had been premiered by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Four years later the same orchestra gave an entire Sowerby concert. Another four years and the composer, now twenty-six years old was asked to be the first recipient of the American Rome Prize, a residency at the American Academy in Garibaldi's former headquarters atop Rome's highest hill. The award came n