On Sunday, March 4, John Holland Thow, professor of music at University of California, Berkeley, and an internationally acclaimed composer, died at Alta Bates Medical Center in Berkeley.

Thow's compositions were performed at the Tanglewood and Edinburgh festivals and by the L'Orchestra della RAI in Rome, by Speculum Musicae and by the Brooklyn Philharmonic.

He received commissions from the San Francisco Symphony, Berkeley Opera, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Boston Musica Viva, Alea III, Earplay Ensemble, Ventura Chamber Music Festival and Detroit Chamber Winds, as well as others.
Thow's many awards included grants from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and from the National Endowment for the Arts and the American Music Center, and a Guggenheim Fellowship. He was artist-in-residence at the Yaddo, Djerassi, Temecula Arts, and Wurlitzer foundations, among others.

Thow died of complications from a chronic illness. He is survived by his ex-wife, two daughters, and a brother.

[source: www.berkeley.edu]