Robert Holst | Voice
(815)836-5416
riholst@aol.com
Dr. Robert Holst, Assistant Professor of Music, teaches Music History, Music
for the Listener, and Voice, and directs the University Choir and Vocal Jazz
Ensemble. Dr. Holst's academic expertise is in the field of seventeenth century
music. In addition, he has extensive experience in conducting choral and instrumental
ensembles and in teaching singers of all types and levels. Dr. Holst also
appears frequently in the Chicago area as an accompanist.
Dr. Holst has taught on the faculties of Kalamazoo College, Kalamazoo, Michigan,
North Central College, Napeville, Illinois, and St. Francis University, Joliet,
Illinois. He has served as Assistant Conductor of the Grant Park Chorus and
Music Director of the Chicago Monteverdi Singers. Currently, he is Music Director
of the Downers Grove Choral Society, Downers Grove, Illinois, and of St. Luke
Evangelical Lutheran Church in Glen Ellyn, Illinois .
Dr. Holst received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Williams College in Williamstown,
Massachusetts, where he studied piano with Kenneth Roberts and voice with
Ruth Eckberg of Springfield, Massachusetts. In 1967, he was awarded the Hutchinson
Prize for musical composition from Williams College. He received his M.A.
and Ph.D. degrees in Musicology from the University of Chicago and studied
at the University of Upsalla in Sweden. Among other awards, he has received
the Tyng Foundation Scholarship, and a grant from the Swedish Institute. Dr.
Holst’s musical interests are extremely varied. In addition to his work on
the podium, he continues to perform as an accompanist and chamber music player
and as a lyric tenor, specializing in Italian Bel Canto repertory. He has
studied conducting in Chicago with Thomas Peck and Ralph Shapey. Although
he is a specialist in Baroque music, he enjoys performing music of all period
and genres.