From a large Italian family, Lou Calabro moved into an orphanage at the age of 8, where he found his favorite possession: a broken drumstick. Having never attended high school, playing in jazz bans and nightclubs from the age of 14, and after serving as a paratrooper in World War II, he attended The Juilliard School, graduating in 1951 and receiving a graduate certificate in composition in 1952. A Guggenheim Fellowship won in 1953 took him to Italy for six months. He came to Bennington in 1955 and stayed until his death. While there, he won a second Guggenheim, three National Endowment of the Arts grants, and received the Vermont Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts in 1991. He was an unusual example of someone from a disadvantaged background who accomplished a great deal through strength of will and determination. 

It was Lou's belief that musicians should make music together on a daily basis. Around him, he met active musicians and created music for them to play. His catalogue of over 100 works includes pieces for solo instruments, ensembles of all sorts, bands, orchestras, and oratorios. Latitude 108.9 and Voyage are examples of such. He gathered writers, local music groups, and soloists to perform together in a massive commemoration of striking historical events, memorable because of their sheer size, as well as for the quality of the music. 

In 1973, he founded Sage City Symphony with his wife, Christine Graham: an all-volunteer orchestra dedicated to every type of music, which annually commissions composers to write symphonic works and whose funds come from money raised entirely locally. Lou was conductor and musical director until his death in 1991.

Lou lived his life to the hilt. He had six children, two of whom are professional musicians. He loved gardening and farming, raised goats, chickens, and pigs, and made cheese. He read voraciously, particularly in science and physics, and wrote short stories. He loved poker and built his own barn singlehandedly, as well as a barn with the help of his sons. 

From the SCS Archives and Christine Graham