Born: May 1, 1895, Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Died: July 7, 1968, Port Clinton, Ohio. He died while at Camp Wa-Li-Ro, in Put-in-Bay, Ohio, the summer choir camp where he taught many years.
Buried: National Cathedral, Washington, DC.
Leo was the son of John Sowerby and Florence Gertrude Salkeld.
He began composing at age ten. Early recognition came in 1913, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra premiered his violin concerto.
In 1919, Sowerby became associate organist at the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago. In 1921, he won the Rome Prize from the American Academy in Rome, the first composer to receive the award.
In 1927, he became organist-choirmaster at St James’ Episcopal Church, Chicago, which was consecrated as a cathedral while he was there (1955). In 1946, he received the Pulitzer Prize for Music for his cantata Canticle of the Sun.
In 1962, after his retirement from St James’, Sowerby was called to Washington National Cathedral to be the first director of the College of Church Musicians, a position he held until his death.
Sowerby composed over 500 works in every genre but opera and ballet. His later works, done at St James’, Chicago, and the National Cathedral, are primarily church music for choir and organ.
Sowerby’s notable pupils include Robert Beadell, Miriam Clapp Duncan, William Ferris, Edwin Fissinger, Milan Kaderavek, Gail Kubik, Roland Leich, Darwin Leitz, Norman Luboff, Maylon Merrill (Jack Benny’s longtime music director), Gerald Near, William Partridge, Florence Price, Ned Rorem, Ronald Stalford, Robert Stewart, and David Van Vactor.