Paul Callaway
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Paul Callaway OBE |
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| Born | August 16, 1909 Atlanta, Illinois |
| Died | March 21, 1995 Washington, D.C. |
| Occupation | Organist, Choirmaster, Composer, and Conductor |
Paul Smith Callaway, OBE (August 16, 1909 – March 21, 1995) was a prominent American organist and choral conductor, particularly well known for his thirty-eight years at the Washington National Cathedral, Washington, D.C., between 1939–1977. He was also active in opera and was the founding musical director of the Opera Society of Washington in 1956, now the renowned Washington National Opera. By the time of his death in 1995, he was acclaimed for his great influence on the musical life of the nation's capital. In 1977, Callaway was appointed a Honorary Officer of The Order of the British Empire (OBE) and invested by Ambassador Peter Jay on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.
Born in Atlanta, Illinois, in 1909, Callaway attended Westminster College, Missouri, and subsequently studied organ with T. Tertius Noble (1930–1935), followed by studies with Leo Sowerby at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago and then Marcel Dupré in Paris. While pursuing his advanced studies, Callaway was organist and choirmaster at St. Thomas Chapel in New York (1930–1935) and later St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan (1935–1939).
On September 1, 1939, Callaway became organist and choirmaster at the Washington National Cathedral, where he founded the Cathedral Choral Society in 1941. During World War II, Callaway was drafted into the Army as a bandmaster in the South Pacific., returning in May 1946. During his tenure at the Cathedral, Callaway expanded the music program's support of American liturgical music and also oversaw considerable expansion of the organ in the 1950s–1970s as construction of the Cathedral's nave was completed. He was quite short in stature, necessitating the installation of a custom-made adjustable pedalboard operated hydraulically so that the diminutive organist could comfortably reach the pedals of the Washington Cathedral's organ.
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