The St. Olaf Choir, conducted by Anton Armstrong ’78, is embarking on a national tour across the Mid-Atlantic this winter. This comes a full two years after the choir celebrated its centennial tour at Carnegie Hall in 2020, just weeks before the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardized choral music on campus and around the world. The 2022 tour will include strict measures to provide the safest experience possible for the student musicians and their audiences.
The St. Olaf Choir has set a gold standard for choral singing, and the ensemble’s 75 singers and Armstrong will perform in 15 cities from Saturday, January 22, through Saturday, February 12, 2022, presenting concerts in some of the nation’s finest concert halls in an 11-state tour to Utah, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, Pennsylvania, Washington, D.C., Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, and Ohio.
St. Olaf Choir conductor Anton Armstrong
Hearing the St. Olaf Choir in concert is more than just a musical experience. Our singers, performing at the highest artistic level, convey a message of hope. Our music provides a bridge to what can unite us at a time when the world is so divided. We often hear from concertgoers who tell us they are not only struck by the sound and uniformity of the St. Olaf Choir, but also by the earnestness of what comes through the voices of our young singers. Our singers touch the hearts and souls of listeners, and our audiences leave transformed.
The entire St. Olaf Choir is fully vaccinated and will sing masked for each of their concerts. At every concert, the audience will be required to wear a mask for the duration of the performance. For several of the concerts, proof of vaccination or a negative test within 72 hours is required at the door, and more information can be found when purchasing tickets.
Tickets and concert details are available online or by phone at 800-363-5487.
In addition to performing concerts for the public, the choir will have unique opportunities to sing with renowned local choirs while on tour. The St. Olaf Choir will sing with the Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City during a Sunday service on January 23, and will share the stage in Nashville with the Fisk Jubilee Singers, a historic choir singing traditional African American spirituals. The St. Olaf Choir will also visit the Choir School of Delaware, a nonprofit that provides musical training, academic support, and multigenerational mentorship to at-risk youth in Wilmington.
The 2022 National Tour marks Anton Armstrong’s 32nd year as conductor of the St. Olaf Choir. He is just the fourth conductor to lead the ensemble during its 110-year history. In addition to his role as a professor of music at St. Olaf College, Armstrong is in demand in the international choral scene as a guest conductor and lecturer. Like his three predecessors, Armstrong carries forward the international reputation of the St. Olaf Choir, an ensemble that is rooted in St. Olaf College’s tradition of faith and commitment to a global perspective.
The choir’s musical selections for the tour reflect these values with a variety of both sacred and secular works. The program will include pieces by living and traditional composers including Adolphus Hailstork, Mack Wilberg, Felix Mendelssohn, J.S. Bach, and St. Olaf Choir founder F. Melius Christiansen.