Lois Nilson Howard passed away on Thursday, June 17. She was born in Worcester, Mass., the oldest child of Alberta Tessmer Nilson and Frank Albert Nilson. A talented pianist, organist, and harpsichordist, Lois graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. A highlight of Lois’ Oberlin career was the chance to spend a year studying at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. She also studied in Europe with the eminent harpsichordist Gustav Leonhardt.
After moving to Washington, D.C., in the late 1960s, Lois became a leader in the capital’s classical music scene. The highlight of her professional career was serving as artistic administrator of the National Symphony Orchestra from the late 1980s until 1995. In that role, she worked closely with music director Mstislav Rostropovich to create programming that helped establish the NSO as a world-class orchestra. She also directed the Kennedy Center’s chamber music program. Lois deeply loved working with Slava and the NSO musicians and staff, as well as with the many artists and performers she helped bring to the Kennedy Center to perform. In 1995, she formed her own artist-management company, Lois Howard & Associates.
In addition to her long career as an arts administrator, Lois pursued her own musical and artistic interests. She formed a small classical ensemble, PLUM, which performed at venues in the DMV. Lois was also a talented painter in the Dutch and Flemish traditions; she loved doing still-life scenes, and painted the soundboard of a harpsichord specially built for her by the master harpsichord maker William Dowd.
Lois’s friends, family, and coworkers were often the beneficiaries of another of her talents: cooking and baking. Her legendary cheesecake was a favorite of Placido Domingo and other musical celebrities, and no holiday season was complete without batches of Lois’s famous hot fudge sauce.
Lois is survived by her daughter, Jennifer Howard, and son-in-law, Mark Trainer, and her beloved grandchildren, Lela and Finn Trainer, of Washington, D.C.; two stepsons, Chris Purrington and David Purrington, and their families; several nieces and nephews; and her sister-in-law, Jayne Abrahamson. Lois was predeceased by her siblings, Barbara Chamberlain and Bill Nilson, and her husband Edward Purrington, former artistic administrator of the Washington National Opera. Her previous marriages, to A. E. Dick Howard and to James H. Pipkin Jr., ended in divorce.
The family asks that donations in Lois’s memory be made to D.C. City Wildlife or the D.C. Youth Orchestra to support two of her deepest passions—helping animals in need and encouraging a love of music in young people. A memorial service for Lois will be held in the fall.
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