Birmingham-Southern College’s holiday service of lessons and carols has been a Hilltop tradition – except for a couple of years during WWII and one year during the pandemic – for close to 90 years.

This year, instead of presenting a service of scripture readings and songs, BSC’s choirs will be joined by the Canterbury United Methodist Church Choir in presenting Vaughan Williams’ magnificent and complex 1936 Christmas cantata, “Hodie,” with a 39-piece orchestra. Set for Sunday, Dec. 3, at 7 p.m. at Canterbury, the free event features soloists James Seay III ’02 of Montgomery, Daniel Seigel ’02 of Birmingham, and Dr. Susan Williams ’97 of Tuscaloosa

“It is a monumental work of 20th century music for Vaughan Williams, one of the singularly fine British composers of the modern era,” said Dr. Lester Seigel ‘79, the J. Hugh Thomas Endowed Professor of Music, who will retire in May 2024 after 30 years on the faculty. “Though technically a ‘cantata,’ it is in fact a ‘lessons and carols’ major work that conforms to the College’s long-standing tradition of coordinating scripture and music in a holiday presentation.

“I’ve never conducted the piece, except for a few excerpts, and previously participated in it as the piano/celesta performer in the orchestra,” he added. “I started working on the score this summer and have been studying it pretty constantly ever since.”

The event is also a bit of a family affair for Seigel, as his wife Jane Sisson Seigel ‘79, daughter-in-law Jessie Mayne ‘12, and two of his grandchildren – Elizabeth Dillard ‘19 and Sam Dillard, a current student; their parents are Amy McInerney Dillard ‘90 and Guy Dillard ‘88 – will perform, in addition to his son Daniel.

The Alumni Choir

Since the late 1970s, the BSC Concert Choir has been joined for the lessons and carols service by an alumni choir – a loose confederation of BSC grads currently ranging from their 20s to their 70s. Many of these graduates, including Seigel, sang for the late J. Hugh Thomas ‘33, a choral music legend at BSC for more than 50 years. Others have sung with Seigel since he joined the BSC faculty in 1993.

The alumni choir has its roots in the Hugh Thomas Chorus, a professional group organized in the 1950s that included several BSC graduates, and which had a critically acclaimed performance at New York’s Town Hall. These days, participants include several married couples; parents and their student or alumni children; graduates from the Birmingham area; and alumni who live outside of Birmingham and either drive in for rehearsals or rehearse remotely and then travel to Birmingham to sing.

“Singing with the mid-20th century Birmingham-Southern Concert Choir, conducted by Hugh Thomas, was one of the great privileges of my life, both as a musician and a person,” said Carol Prickett ’69 of Tuscaloosa, who earned a PhD in music at Florida State University and founded the music therapy program at the University of Alabama. “But everything just got better when I moved back to Alabama and was able to join the intergenerational Alumni Choir, also conducted by Hugh Thomas.

“More than 30 years later, the opportunity to drive to Birmingham to rehearse and sing with this evolving group is the highlight of my holiday season,” she added. “I cherish the friendships as well as the music … or as Willie Nelson says, ‘The life I love is making music with my friends.’ I’m grateful for the opportunity to stay connected to the school that shaped me.”

A Generous Gift

“Hodie” is made possible by a generous bequest to Canterbury’s music program – where Seigel has been director of music since 1995 – by the late Dr. Wayne Killion ’66, a former chair of the BSC Board of Trustees who passed away in December 2022.

“Wayne’s love of music was deep and long—from the Indian Springs School Glee Club in the 1960s (another institution we have in common as alumni), through the BSC Concert Choir and the Church Choir as a valued tenor until his illness, Wayne enriched choirs through his participation and always said they enriched him,” Seigel said.

“Even in his illness, he derived singular pleasure from the regular visits of another BSC alum, Susan Johnson Lawrence ‘79, and her guitar, to his home, where his mind and memory seemed to reconnect in a particularly joyful and healing way,” he added. “With his deep commitment to both BSC and to Canterbury’s music ministry, Wayne’s generous bequest and his wife Sandy’s support seem appropriate to his twin enthusiasms of the Church and the College.”