James Holmes, organist and choirmaster long associated with the Episcopal Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy in New York City, died of cancer on January 7 at the age of 59. Born on April 2, 1939, in Pittsburg, Kansas, he was brought up in a musical environment. As a boy he studied violin and piano and later continued his studies at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. In 1967 he moved to New York City. His first major post as organist and choir director was at the Chapel (now Church) of the Intercession in Washington Heights. There, in 1972, he presented a series of organ recitals, each devoted to a modern composer, including Messiaen, Poulenc, Satie, and Virgil Thomson. In 1973 he became organist and choir director at the Church of St. Matthew and St. Timothy, where until his illness he never missed a Sunday or feast day service. Also a composer, his Stabat Mater, an unaccompanied choral work, is published by Boosey & Hawkes. Last September the church unveiled a plaque honoring him with "thanksgiving for 25 years of devoted service."
Madeleine Sue Henderson Seid Martin died on August 9, 1998 in St. Paul, Minnesota, after a long struggle with cancer. Born in Indiana, she had taught at the University of Notre Dame, the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity, the School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, and at the United Theological Seminary, New Brighton, Minnesota. She also served as music director for Presbyterian churches in Iowa and Texas, and for Episcopal parishes in Wichita Falls, Texas, and Rochester, New York, before going to the University of Notre Dame as Director of Chapel Music. She had been active in the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, serving as coordinator of liturgies for the 1979 convention in Chicago and as a clinician for the NPM choral director institute.
Robert Shaw, widely regarded as the "Dean of American Choral Conducting," died on January 25 at the age of 82. Mr. Shaw had suffered a stroke the previous day in New Haven, Connecticut, where he was attending a Yale University play on which his son, Thomas, worked. At the time of his death he held the titles of Atlanta Symphony music director emeritus and conductor laureate. In recent years he had made regular appearances as a guest conductor and presented annual workshops at Carnegie Hall which drew choral directors and singers from across the country. Of his many recordings, 14 have won Grammy awards.
Born in Red Bluff, California, in 1916, he was the son of a minister in the Church of the Disciples of Christ. He entered Pomona College in 1934, majoring in religion and philosophy, and also directed the glee club. He moved to New York in 1938 and organized the Fred Waring Glee Club, which he led until 1945. Shaw founded the Collegiate Chorale in 1941 and conducted the amateur chorus until 1954. He also prepared choruses for Arturo Toscanini's NBC Symphony concerts and from 1956 to 1967 was George Szell's associate conductor at the Cleveland Orchestra. In 1948 he founded the Robert Shaw Chorale, a 40-voice professional ensemble that made many recordings for RCA Victor and toured extensively. Shaw disbanded the chorale in 1967 and moved to Atlanta, where he served as music director of the Atlanta Symphony until 1988. In 1967 he founded the Atlanta Symphony Chamber Chorus and three years later the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus.
