Instead of having a funeral, the late Tom Hohstadt decided to have a concert instead.
The event is set for 7 p.m. May 17 at the Rea-Greathouse Hall at the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center. It is free and open to the public.
Hohstadt was the director of orchestra/senior lecturer at UTPB.
He was born Sept. 5, 1933 and died Jan. 3, 2022. He was 89. He is survived by his wife, Muriel, a daughter Leslie and her husband Dan Borwick, and a son, Lowell and his wife Kathy. Also grandchildren Danny Borwick, Mya Borwick, Sarah Holder and Jonathan Hohstadt. His great-grandchild is Mercy Marie Borwick.
“In my father’s will, he said that he didn’t want a funeral, per se,” Lowell Hohstadt said. “He would rather there be a celebration, a music concert …”
Hohstadt said he started working on the concert the week his father died.
“He let my mom know that I would know what to do … as he was in the hospital,” Hohstadt said.
He added that several members of the community will talk about Tom Hohstadt’s influence in their lives.
Odessa College Chair of Visual and Performing Arts Eric Baker will be there with the Lone Star Brass Quintet.
The Cassatt String Quartet will play and Jennifer Leshnower with the Cassatt will speak, along with Odessa Faith Christian Center Pastor Don Caywood.
His parents considered Odessa Faith Christian Center their church.
The last piece of the concert is Danse from Southwest Suite with the UTPB Strings joined by Cassatt and the Lone Star Brass Quintet.
“This last piece is a little bit of a hoedown … I know him he would have liked this event to end with something positive,” Hohstadt said.
The concert will start with some of his favorite hymns, “A Mighty Fortress,” “How Great Thou Art” and Great is Thy Faithfulness.”
Hohstadt said his father directed those hymns in his last concert in the same venue.
Hohstadt said he and Leshnower grew up together and studied with Dorothy Croft, so they have been friends for decades.
“We went to the same schools up North and I’ve written several pieces that they’ve (the Cassatt) premiered. When when she heard that dad had passed, she called me and she said we would like to donate their time and talents to honoring him …,” Hohstadt said.
The concert also will feature Soprano Crystal Jaquez and pianist Shari Santorelli.
Hohstadt said he wrote a piece called “I Want My Flowers Now” based on a poem that Tom Hohstadt’s grandmother had written.
“… The the gist of the poem is … don’t wait until after you are gone to give people the nice things you want to tell them. Tell them you love them. Tell you appreciate them. Don’t wait until the funeral to get the flowers. I’d rather have my flowers before I’m gone. … So that was what the poem was about and so I wrote a song for soprano and piano …,” Hohstadt said.
Jennifer Acosta, orchestra teacher at Alamo Junior High School in Midland, is a community member playing with the strings. She is a violinist.
“I was one of his last orchestra students …,” the year she graduated from college, Acosta said.
She added that Tom Hohstadt had a huge passion for music.
“If I could have a fraction of his passion when I teach, then hopefully the kids will turn out OK,” Acosta said.
She said she’s going to see if she can make it through the concert without crying.
“It’s an honor,” Acosta said.
Tom Hohstadt was an international symphony conductor, author, lecturer, recording artist, composer and soloist.
A Fulbright scholar, he eanred four advanced degrees from the Eastman School of Music and the Vienna Akademic fur Musik. In addition, he received the Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and advanced study from the renowned maestro, Pierre Monteux, at the Domaine School of Conductors, the concert program details.
His 28-year conducting career included positions with the Eastman School of Music, the Honolulu, Amarillo and Midland-Odessa symphonies. He also made guest appearances in eight nations.
Tom Hohstadt was also a well-known trumpet player.
“… His understanding of music wasn’t just about the notes. He approached it from the standpoint of the emotion and from an analysis of the emotion that was being conveyed …,” Hohstadt said.
Dan Keast, area coordinator and advisor for string music majors at UTPB, was a longtime friend and colleague of Tom Hohstadt’s. Keast also considers Hohstadt a mentor.
“I think it’s a marvelous way to honor Tom, who did such a wonderful job to bring music to so many people in the Permian Basin; not just the symphony patrons, but to all of the school kids. After he retired is when I actually got to meet Tom. I bought him out of retirement and then I put him to work again educating the college students and putting music out into the general public that maybe didn’t to go symphony concerts and doing things around campus,” Keast said.
He added that the Wagner Noel Performing Arts Center had not been built when Hohstadt started.
“… So we had to be innovative and I thought that was Tom’s greatest asset at times was his innovation. One of his concerts early was in the foyer of our library and he transformed that foyer into this beautiful space and it just rang so well when the orchestra played,” Keast said.
He also put on a concert at CrossRoads Fellowship where an artist created a painting during one piece of music.
“… It was the most fun thing the audience, I think, had ever experienced … just watching this man flail and paint at the canvas,” Keast added.
One of the gifts Keast said Tom Hohstadt gave him was learning how to program massive concerts using his three-pronged metaphor of struggle, hope and celebration.
“He said everything in the arts has to work through that process for it to be good. So your concert, your movie, your theater play, your musical, even your visual art, it has to have that element of struggle to it, and it has that element of hope and you’ve got to have celebration. If you don’t, your audience isn’t going to feel a sense of completion,” Keast said.
“The more I worked with Tom, the more I discovered that was right,” he added.
Keast said he plans to attend the concert.
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything,” he added.
