John Thow, 57; composer, professor of music at UC Berkeley
John Thow, 57, a composer and music professor at UC Berkeley, died March 4 at Alta Bates Summit Medical Center in Berkeley. Family members did not give the exact cause of death, according to the UC Berkeley Press Office, but said he suffered from a chronic disease.
Born in Los Angeles and raised in Ventura, Thow’s lyrical concertos, chamber works and classical songs were often performed in his home state. He was commissioned to write pieces for the San Francisco Symphony and the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players. His one-act opera, “Serpentina,” premiered at the Berkeley Opera in 1999.
His music was also performed by chamber groups and symphonies in various U.S. cities and at music festivals in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Tanglewood, Mass., as well as in Ventura.
Some of his music was inspired by California history, particularly his “Two Chumash Songs” of 2000 for violin, clarinet and piano, which blends classical elements with songs of the Chumash Indians of the Ventura-Santa Barbara area. Other works, such as “To Invoke the Clouds” of 1997, were themed to nature.
Thow earned a bachelor’s in music from USC and a master’s and doctorate from Harvard University. He studied in Rome on a Fulbright Fellowship.
He joined the UC Berkeley faculty in 1981 and taught composition, orchestration and counterpoint.
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