‘A real Renaissance man’: A master of sacred music, Tom Savoy’s legacy will live on
You didn’t go to Tom Savoy’s house on a Saturday night, not if you were saying Mass the next morning.
If you did, you ran the risk of staying up deep into the night with Savoy, talking, laughing and trading jokes, said Monsignor Patrick Winslow, the vicar general and chancellor of the Diocese of Charlotte. Savoy might even pull out his vaudeville routine, tinkling on the piano. He’d often have a Manhattan in his hand.
But come Sunday, Savoy would “be the first on his knees” in prayer, Winslow said.
It was that combination of piety and verve that led Savoy’s friends, family and students to say he was a figure larger than life.
Tom Savoy died suddenly on Oct. 24, a month shy of his 67th birthday, at his home in Charlotte. What remains is a legacy of love, joy, faith, and a dedication to and mastery of sacred music.
“He was a master of so many things,” said his daughter, Emalie Savoy. “He was a real Renaissance man.
“My dad put (all of himself into) every joke, every Manhattan, every sacrifice, every piece of music, every act of service, because he loved people and he loved God most of all. He was able to marry virtue with fun.”
At the time of his death, Savoy served as magister capellae at St. Joseph College Seminary in Mt. Holly, where he taught sacred music to seminary students. In that role, he harnessed more than a half a century of experience in music in the Catholic Church.
Savoy’s daughter Emalie said he played his first Mass when he was 12 years old.
“My grandmother would say he was too fidgety on the altar as an altar boy so they put him up in the loft,” she said.
That’s where the organ was.
Savoy was born on Nov. 24, 1955, in Cohoes, New York, a town on the Hudson River just north of Albany.
The fidgety altar boy discovered an immense talent in music, and for decades held music positions in the Albany area, rising to the music director of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, the mother church of the Diocese of Albany. He also formed the New York Catholic Chorale, with which Savoy conducted hundreds of performances between 1997 and 2007.
Savoy and his wife, Deborah, moved to Charlotte in 2012 after speaking with Winslow, who knew Savoy from Albany years before. Winslow told Savoy he had an opening for a music director at St. Thomas Aquinas. Savoy asked Winslow what he was looking for.
“Basically, Tom, I’m looking for you,” Winslow said, recounting the conversation.
In addition to leading the music at St. Thomas Aquinas, Savoy also founded the Carolina Catholic Chorale and taught sacred music to students at St. Joseph’s College Seminary, which he continued doing after he retired from the church last year.
In his time teaching at the seminary, Savoy passed along his love of sacred music to dozens of students, who sometimes arrived with little musical training. The Rev. Aaron Huber, who was ordained in June was a student of Savoy’s for two years, said the progress was remarkable.
“Our first year we could barely chant a Psalm, and now they’re singing difficult pieces,” Huber said. “He was clearly a master of what he taught. He enjoyed it and was able to be authentically himself.”
But Savoy’s love of music went beyond the sacred. Outside the church, he taught piano and organ to hundreds of children and adults.
In September, Savoy took to Truist Field with several of his seminary students and led them in a rendition of “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at a Charlotte Knights game.
He also passed along his love of music to his daughter, Emalie, a Juilliard-trained and award-winning opera singer.
“I’ve been making music with him since I was 6 years old,” Emalie Savoy said. “We weren’t just father-daughter, we were collaborators. He was a touchstone for me.
“He’s done so much. He had irons in so many types of music. But his passion was music to serve our Lord. My dad’s music will be immortal. But there was so much music left that he wanted to write.”
Winslow, too, reflected on the loss of the man — and the permanence of his gift.
“A man of his stature has very large shoes to fill,” Winslow said. “The first thing we do is recognize there is no replacing Tom. His impact is going to be felt for decades.”
Also carrying on Savoy’s legacy are his wife, two brothers, four other children and seven grandchildren.
UPDATE: A previous version of this story identified Winslow as pastor of St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, which was a previous title he held. This story has been updated to reflect his correct title.
This story was originally published November 4, 2022 at 3:31 PM.
