Howard Sprout

Howard E. Sprout, 77, of Bloomfield CT, died on Thursday, February 6, 2025. He had been diagnosed at age 47 with metastatic prostate cancer, complications of which were the ultimate cause of death. However, he took a proactive and ever optimistic approach to this disease, and with the help of his indomitable spirit, supportive family and friends and the exceptionally skilled medical professionals of Hartford HealthCare and the Connecticut VA, he thrived for most of those 30 years. Howard was born in Muncy, PA to Joseph and Bernice (Wren) Sprout in1947. He attended Oswayo Valley High School in Shinglehouse, PA, followed by Allegheny College in Meadville, PA, from which he graduated with a BA in Music in 1969. He enlisted in the US Army where he served stateside for 2 years, followed by 9 months of service in Vietnam. He was honorably discharged in April of 1972. Howard enrolled in Hartt College in the fall of 1972 which brought him to the Hartford area where he spent the rest of his adult life. His original intent had been to study liturgical music, but this was short-lived when the head of the opera department heard his glorious baritone voice. He soon became a voice and opera major, playing lead roles in Hartt Opera Theater. He also became Artist in Residence at Connecticut Opera in 1976. He graduated from Hartt with a Masters in Vocal Performance followed by an Artists Diploma in Opera. He briefly explored career opportunities in New York and Germany, however, given its abundant and high quality musical opportunities, Howard very consciously decided to pursue his musical career in the Hartford area and never looked back. For the next approximately 35 years he followed his true vocation of music, both teaching voice and performing in Hartford, New Haven, and regionally throughout CT and the broader Northeast. He was a frequent soloist with the Hartford Chorale, CONCORA, The Hartford, New Haven, Yale, New Britain and Worcester Symphonies, Litchfield County Choral Union and many other regional musical ensembles. He played leading roles in multiple operas including Rigoletto, I Pagliacci, La Boheme, Madame Butterfly and Magic Flute and also relished his several opportunities in the 1980's and 90's to perform the music of Rodgers and Hammerstein, Lerner and Loewe, Cole Porter and the like with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra. The classical highlights of his long musical career include the baritone/bass roles in great works such as the Bach St. Matthew and St. John Passions, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Handel's Messiah, Brahms Requiem, Carmina Burana and Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. He repeatedly said how blessed he felt by the opportunity to perform this music with such talented colleagues. When recently asked when he felt most truly himself, his response was "when I was on stage and being the vessel for communicating as best I could what the composer was trying to say." Howard was a soloist at many area churches, most notably Center Church in Hartford, Westminster Presbyterian, and St. James's West Hartford. He also performed at Asylum Hill Congregational Church where he sang in more Boar's Head festivals than he could count. Allegheny College was very dear to Howard, and he remained an active alum his whole life. He served as the conductor of the first alumni choir reunion in 1982 and participated in all but one of the 13 subsequent reunions which now include hundreds of singers and continue to this day. He was also a supportive member of the Alpha Chi Rho fraternity. Howard also had an affinity for all things technical and enjoyed a "day job" in data processing for 20 years at Bank of America from which he took early retirement in 2005 due to the progression of his illness. This allowed him time to do things he loved: he took many family trips with wife Karen and daughter Joanna, accompanying Joanna on all her college visits and doing several father-daughter trips to France, Germany, and the American Southwest. Later in retirement, Howard preferred an evening at the grill on his patio, enjoying the beauty of the field behind his house and the company of family and dear friends – most especially his "best friend," his dog Bruno. He was also an avid train lover and was known to drive long distances with his brother to watch that one special train go by, and to spend hours in his workshop building his model train villages. In addition to family, his greatest satisfaction in later years was teaching with the UCONN Adult Learning Program. His classes on great classical works of music provided significant pleasure for the listeners as well as for him to prepare and deliver. During the last 4 months of his life, Howard lived at Brookdale Senior Living in West Hartford. Even in his weakened state, he delighted in receiving visitors, usually to discuss and then listen to a symphonic work of mutual choice. He and the family are very grateful for the support of Brookdale staff and his private aides from Dynamic Touch Homecare and the nurses of Vitas Hospice. Besides his wife of 44 years, Karen (Johnson) Sprout, he leaves his daughter Joanna (Sprout) Engel and her wife Miriam Engel of West Hartford, CT, his brother Joseph Ray Sprout and his wife Ruth Sprout, of Portville, NY and sister Cynthia (Sprout) Bell and her husband, Steven Bell of Shinglehouse, PA. He also leaves his grandchildren, Laura June and Evan Howard Engel, his sister-in-law Kathryn Johnson of Washington, DC, as well as numerous nieces and nephews. There will be a Celebration of Life at 2 pm on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at Asylum Hill Congregational Church, 814 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT followed by a reception at the church. The service will be live streamed from the church, whose website is www.ahcc.org. In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts in honor of Howard may be made to support the Allegheny College Choral Fund, either by check (payable to Allegheny College, 520 North Main Street, Box 44, Meadville, PA 16335) or online at allegheny.edu/giving. Or to The Hartford Symphony Orchestra, Development Department, 166 Capitol Ave., Hartford, CT 06106, or online at https://hartfordsymphony.org/support/individual-support/. To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Howard, please visit our floral store.