Anton Armstrong

Anton Armstrong is currently the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College. Anton Armstrong became only the 4th director of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990. He continues the tradition started by the choir founder F. Melius Christiansen in 1911.

Early years

Anton’s parents migrated to Long Island, New York from the Caribbean. Armstrong grew up in Long Island where he and his mother were active singers in a local church choir. Armstrong joined the American Boychoir, based in Princeton, New Jersey. According to Armstrong, “That experience lit my fire for choral singing.”

Anton Armstrong was first made aware of the St. Olaf Choir when his pastor took him to a performance at Avery Fisher Hall despite the fact that Armstrong had tickets to see the Moody Blues at Madison Square Garden. His mother made the decision for him to attend the St. Olaf Choir concert.

Education

Armstong earned his bachelor's degree at St. Olaf College. He was a member of the St. Olaf Choir from 1976-1978, under the leadership of Kenneth Jennings. Jennings became a mentor to Armstrong and 12 years after graduating from St. Olaf, Armstrong replaced Jennings as director of the St. Olaf Choir.

After graduating from St. Olaf, Armstrong attended the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where he earned a Masters of Music degree and Michigan State University where he completed a Doctorate of Musical Arts. His doctoral thesis was Celebrating 75 Years of Musical Excellence: the Evolution of the St. Olaf Choir.

Professional Work

Upon completion of his doctorate, Armstrong worked for 10 years at Calvin College and conducted the Calvin Choir, the Campus Choir, the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the Alumni Choir. He also conducted the St. Cecelia youth Choir from 1981 until his departure for St. Olaf in 1990.

In 1990, Armstrong assumed the duties of Director of Choral Activities at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. He is dircetor of the St. Olaf Choir and Collegiate Chorale. Known as "Dr. A" to his St. Olaf students, Armstrong also teaches advanced choral conducting and vocal pedagogy classes that focus on child and adolescent voice. He serves as the artistic director of the St. Olaf Christmas Festival. The festival has become a popular PBS Christmas broadcast.

Armstrong is currently the summer music director of the Youth Choral Academy of the Oregon Bach Festival. The 10-day choral festival based in Eugene, Oregon. He is an editor for Earthsongs Publications and co-editor of Augsburg Fortress Publishers. With Augsburg Fortress he is editing the revised St. Olaf Choral Series, which contains literature that was composed by F. Melius Christiansen, and Kenneth Jennings among others.

Past achievemnets include co-conductor of the World Youth Choir organized by the International Federation of Choral Music. He has been part of the summer faculty for the American Boychoir for the more than 20 years.

Accomplishments

Under Armstrong's baton, the St. Olaf Choir has toured extensively both domestically and abroad. International tours have taken the choir to Australia, New Zealand, Denmark, Austria, France, Germany, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Switzerland, England, and most recently Norway in 2005. The choir frequently performs at conventions, including past performances at the national American Choral Directors Association in Chicago, Illinois in 1999 and Los Angeles, California in 2005 and the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The annual St. Olaf Christmas Festival can be seen on public television stations across the United States, and the choir has performed on Garrison Keillor’s ‘’A Prairie Home Companion’’.

During Dr. Armstrong’s tenure as director of the St. Olaf Choir, the choir has recorded 11 CDs. The most recent recording by the choir under the St. Olaf record label is ‘’A St. Olaf Christmas in Norway’’. The choir released its first international recording in 2003. The recording was completed by Linn Records of London, England.

Armstrong was awarded Baylor University's Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching in 2006.

References

St. Olaf Choir the conductor. 2005. Updated n.d. <http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/music/stolaf_choir/conductor.html> [December 10, 2005].
Anonymous St. Olaf's conductor's cold start led to warm ties. Cleveland Plain Dealer 2005. January 30.
Youth Choral Academy Oregon Bach Festival. 2001. Updated n.d. <http://www.singbach.com/mo_yca_anton.htm> [December 10, 2005].
American Public Media. 2005. The legacy of the Saint Olaf Choir. Updated n.d. <http://saintpaulsunday.publicradio.org/featured_artists/stolafhistory.html> [Decemeber 10, 2005].
Ashmore, Nancy J. 2004. Spirit voices. St. Olaf Magazine, September, 29.
Tpt. 2005. A St. Olaf christmas in Norway. Updated n.d. <http://www.tpt.org/stolaf/about_performers.html> [December 10, 2005].

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