Clyde Holloway, the Herbert S. Autrey Professor Emeritus of Organ at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, died in December. He was 77. Dean Robert Yekovich shared the sad news in an email to Shepherd School faculty.
Holloway served as a faculty member at the Shepherd School from 1977 until his retirement in 2010. In addition to establishing the organ program, he served as chairman of the Keyboard Department and director of graduate studies. Holloway also served at Christ Church Cathedral Houston as cathedral organist from 1977 to 1984 and as organist and choirmaster from 1984 to 1993. Holloway was appointed honorary lay canon and organist-choirmaster emeritus by Bishop Maurice Benitez.
Holloway earned degrees from the University of Oklahoma and Union Theological Seminary. He came to prominence in 1964 when he won the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists in Philadelphia. This achievement inaugurated a distinguished concert career that received high acclaim throughout the United States where he performed under the auspices of Karen McFarlane Artists. He performed for numerous national and regional conventions of the American Guild of Organists and appeared in recital in Mexico City, the West Indies and Europe.
Renowned as a gifted educator, Holloway served on the Committee for Professional Education of the American Guild of Organists and addressed two biennial conferences of the National Conference on Organ Pedagogy, founded in 1982. He served as a member of the jury for numerous competitions, including the Concours de Europe, the Fort Wayne Competition, the Music Teachers National Association Competition, the National Young Artists Competition of the American Guild of Organists and the Grand Prix de Chartes. In 1994 he was invited to perform for the Bicentennial Festival of the celebrated Clicquot organ in the Cathedral of Poitiers, France, and to serve as a member of the jury for the international competition held at the end of the 10-day festival.
A funeral for Holloway will be held at Christ Church Cathedral in Houston at 11 a.m. Jan. 18. The service will be preceded by organ music at 10:30 a.m. and a reception will follow in Reynolds Hall.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Christ Church Cathedral Endowment Organ Fund, 1117 Texas Avenue, Houston, Texas 77002; or to the Clyde Holloway Scholarship in Organ at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University, P.O. Box 1892 — MS 532, Houston, Texas 77251.