Hugh Thomas

From Bhamwiki
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Joseph Hugh Thomas (born c. 1912; died July 24, 2002) was a choral conductor, pianist and educator, and conductor. He directed the Concert Choir at Birmingham-Southern College from 1964 to 1993 and also led the Birmingham Concert Chorale.

Thomas earned his bachelor's degree from Birmingham-Southern in 1933, and bachelor's and master's degrees from the Birmingham Conservatory of Music. He studied piano with Dorsey Whittington and conducting with Robert Shaw. He also studied analysis with Julius Hereford at the Berkshire Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. In 1951, he made his professional debut as a conductor of the Hugh Thomas Chorus at Town Hall in New York. He also was a piano soloist with Andre Kostelanetz.

Thomas was made dean of the BSC Conservatory of Music in 1947 and served as chairman of the Department of Music from 1964 to 1972. He then returned to full-time teaching until retiring in 1982. He continued to direct the BSC Concert Choir until 1993.

As stated on the website of Birmingham-Southern Department of Music, "The Concert Choir's history began with late BSC music professors Raymond Anderson and Hugh Thomas. Each brought his musicianship and dedication to the Concert Choir and established the foundation of quality the college strives to continue today."

Lester Siegel, the current conductor of the Concert Choir, holds the Joseph Hugh Thomas endowed professorship at Birmingham-Southern. The Barbara and Hugh Thomas Scholarship was created at the college in 1998 to honor Thomas and his wife, Barbara Dorough Thomas, a 1937 BSC graduate and prominent Birmingham musician and teacher.

Among Thomas's notable students are choral directors Angela Batey, Donald Oglesby, and Mark Ridings, pianist and bandleader Ray Reach, and organist and composer McNeil Robinson.

References

Retrieved from "http://bhamwiki.com/w/index.php?title=Hugh_Thomas&oldid=192750"