To : All Faculty Members
From: James G. Martin, Vice-President and Provost
Date: October 31, 1972
Mr. Harald B. Holst, Emeritus Professor of Music, passed away Saturday morning, October 28, 1972, of an apparent heart attack and a complication of illnesses. Mr. Holst was born at Cedar Falls, Iowa, February 3, 1896. He attended Iowa State Teachers College and received his Master of Music degree from the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, in 1936. He studied with Fritz and Lotte Lehmann for several summers in Santa Barbara, California.
He was a music instructor at Morningside College, Lexington College of Music, and Grinnell College prior to joining the staff at Iowa State Teachers College in 1936. He had been a member of the Iowa Music Teachers Association, the Music Teachers National Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, American Association of University Professors, and was advisor for Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia. He gave significant service to the community and university through his ability as an instructor, director, and vocal soloist. He was widely known as a baritone soloist appearing with the Waterloo Symphony Orchestra and with other musical organizations.
Since his retirement as professor emeritus of music at the University of Northern Iowa, he appeared in or co-directed a number of operas and musical productions. Among them were "The Mikado," "Man of La Mancha," "Gianni Schicci," "Riders to the Sea," "Marriage of Figaro," "The Fantasticks," and "La Boheme."
Mr. Holst's body was willed to the University of Iowa Medical Research Center. A memorial service will be held Wednesday at 2 p.m. at the Dahl-Van Hove-Schoof Funeral Home. The flag will be flown at half-mast, and the Campanile bells will be played during the time of the memorial service in memory of Mr. Holst. The family requests no flowers. They suggest that those wishing to contribute to a memorial make them to the Harald Holst Memorial Fund for a Music Theatre Award with the UNI Foundation.