Each year, Albion College evokes memories of Christmas past, with its celebration of the Victorian-era Festival of Lessons and Carols. This year, Albion College's Lessons and Carols is available to 21-st century audiences via an audio stream posted on the College Web site through the month of December at www.albion.edu/news.
Women's chorus members Catherine Sossi, Samantha Morin and Detra Ward.
English Archbishop E. W. Benson designed the service for the cathedral at Truro, England, in 1880. Albion's late choral director David L. Strickler introduced the service to Albion in 1966, and it has been a cherished tradition ever since.
Visiting director Mark Web led Lessons and Carols for the first time in the 1990s, as a sabbatical replacement for then-director Mel Larimer.
While the service's Biblical texts, and much of the music were part of the original 1880 service, Albion's Lessons and Carols also features carols, instrumentation and arrangements with more modern roots. This year's Lessons and Carols included percussionists and the College's new women's chorus, along with pieces arranged by Strickler.
