The 2025-26 season is Anton Armstrong’s 36th year as Conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, marking him as the longest tenured conductor in the ensemble’s storied 114 year history.  He is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, becoming the fourth conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990 after ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served on the faculty of Calvin University and led the Calvin Alumni Choir, the Calvin Campus Choir, the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale.   He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned advanced degrees at the University of Illinois (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA).  He is editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications,  of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers, and has initiated the Anton Armstrong Signature Choral Series with Gentry Publications.  In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy.  Dr. Armstrong currently serves as Past Chair of the National Board of Chorus America and as a member of the National Board of The Choristers Guild.

During the 2025-26 season  Anton Armstrong will lead choral festivals at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY., the Schermerhorn Symphony Center (Nashville, TN) and the Meyerson Symphony Center (Dallas, TX). He is serving as conductor of the 2026 Alabama All-State SATB Choir and the 2026 Arizona All-State Mixed Choir. He will return to Bali, Indonesia in July 2026 serving as one of the adjudicators for the Bali International Choral Festival. Additional guest lecturing appearances will take place at Montclair State University, NJ and the University of Central Florida.

Dr. Armstrong has frequently conducted ensembles and appeared before regional, national and international gatherings of the American Choral Directors Association, International Federation of Choral Music, National Association for Music Education, Choristers Guild, American Guild of Organists, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Organization of American Kodaly Educators and the Orff-Schulwerk Association. In recent years he has guest conducted such noted ensembles as the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, The Houston Chamber Choir, The Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, The Phoenix Chorale and The Ansan City Choir, South Korea.  He has also collaborated in concert with Bobby McFerrin and Garrison Keillor.   

In March 2017, The St. Olaf Christmas Festival, one of the oldest musical celebrations of Christmas in the United States begun in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen, founder of the St. Olaf College Music Department was featured by invitation in two major performances at the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association at Orchestra Hall, Minneapolis, MN.  Since 1990, Anton Armstrong has served as Artistic Director of the St. Olaf Christmas Festival which features over 500 student musicians who are members of five St. Olaf Choral ensembles and the St. Olaf Orchestra.  

In January 2006, Baylor University selected Anton Armstrong from a field of 118 distinguished nominees to receive the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.  He spent February-June 2007 in residency at Baylor University as a visiting professor.  In March 2007 Anton Armstrong was the first recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from the American Boychoir School and in October 2009 he received The Distinguished Alumni Award from Michigan State University. In June 2013 Dr. Armstrong received the Saltzman Award from the Oregon Bach Festival.   The festival’s highest honor, the Saltzman Award is bestowed upon individuals who have provided exceptional levels of leadership to the organization.  In the Fall of 2014, The St. Olaf Choir and Dr. Armstrong received a Regional Emmy for the PBS television program Christmas in Norway with The St. Olaf Choir.  In 2021, Anton Armstrong was named an Honorary Life Member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization.  Honorary Life Members are recognized as members of the choral profession who have devoted their life to the enhancement and artistic growth of the choral art. The award recognizes those leaders in the choral profession who have mentored young conductors, inspired singers, supported music educators in the arts, and shared their talents and gifts in the United States and abroad. In September 2022, Dr. Armstrong received the Distinguished Legacy Award, from the College of Fine and Applied Arts at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the 2022: 50 Over 50 Honoree in the Arts Award from AARP-Minnesota and the Pollen Midwest.  The Anton Armstrong Service Award in Choral Music was established in 2023 by the Oregon Bach Festival Special Events Committee to honor Dr. Anton Armstrong. This award was created through gratitude to celebrate Dr. Armstrong’s twenty-five years of service to OBF through the Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy.  In 2025, Dr. Armstrong was awarded the Melvin George Award by St. Olaf College.  This award celebrates faculty who demonstrate superb teaching, sound scholarship, and commitment to the mission and religious nature of the college.