An interview with Anton Armstrong

Reflections on colleagues, the common good, and sustaining a career

In January of 2025, amidst intensive rehearsals preparing for the St. Olaf Choir annual tour, Dr. Anton Armstrong and I had a 45 minute conversation about his career and what it has been like to teach at his alma mater for the last 35 years. It was the day after the death of his friend and colleague John Ferguson, and his sadness at this loss was visible and genuine. I hope through this interview our Star of the North readers see the love and connection Anton brings to his relationships with students, colleagues, and the choral community.

Please describe your professional journey and how you came to be at St. Olaf College. 

I grew up in a Lutheran church on Long Island. Yes, there are black Lutherans, and the church had a wonderful music program. The directors of music, Carol and Carl Weber, were graduates of Westminster Choir College and they brought the vision of a community of faith that sings from the crib to the grave. When I was about 11 years old, Carol Weber took me to a concert of the American Boychoir, and I became enthralled. I participated in their summer program for two years and was then accepted into the school where I attended for over 2 years. That was my first experience making choral music at such a high level. We toured extensively around the country and internationally. My last tour was to Italy in the spring of 1971 and we sang papal mass at the Vatican, a private concert for Pope Paul VI, and at the Spoleto festival. We even sang at the White House for Richard Nixon for a Christmas program. The American Boychoir – exposed me to what choral music was about. When I entered that school the color of your skin did not matter, nor how much money your parents had or did not have. You were judged based on the quality of your heart and mind, your musical talent, and how hard you were going to work. That was powerful to me as a young man growing up in the sixties and early seventies, when the civil rights movement was flaring and racial divisions were rampant. That experience was also a big lesson in self-discipline, and I learned how music could change your life.  

When I started looking for colleges, I looked for a school that had a strong music program. I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into music, but I eventually decided on St. Olaf. I had four wonderful years here. I sang in several choral groups including Chapel Choir under the direction of Robert Scholz, who, in many ways, became my musical godfather. During my last two years I sang in the St. Olaf Choir under my predecessor, Kenneth Jennings, and they were marvelous years of really seeing a master at the choral art. 

I went right from St. Olaf to the University of Illinois to get a masters degree in conducting. When I finished, I nearly took a job in a very fine private school out in Massachusetts, but Calvin College called. They were looking for a sabbatical replacement and Robert Scholz gave them my name. I was hired for the position and at age 24 I had their top choir, which was an incredible experience. That year I also conducted two other groups and taught various classes. At the end of the year they had a second choral position open, and I applied. Out of 25 candidates I came down to the final two, but they decided to go with someone who had been there already. I applied for a number of other positions but nothing worked out. Finally, Calvin College came back to me in late August, saying that they had more work and offering me a job. I went back and taught part time for another 2 years. In Grand Rapids they had a new conductor of the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus, and I was named the assistant. In 1982 I was named the conductor of that group. I also became conductor of the Calvin Alumni Choir, which is still a thriving organization. Then, I took over a local youth choir, the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale that had about 60 members. We lost some members right away and the board threatened that if we lost more, I would lose my job. By the time I left in 1990 we had nearly 250 kids singing in 3 different choirs. Paul Caldwell eventually came in and took that position. 

During my time at Calvin, I was awarded a fellowship at Michigan State University to finish my doctorate. Dr. Charles Smith was early in his days there developing the doctoral choral program, and I had the joy of being his assistant and being mentored by him. Throughout my coursework I continued working part time at Calvin, teaching courses, some voice lessons, and conducting the alumni choir. When I finished coursework I returned again to Calvin, and from 1986 – 1990 I was an associate professor there. In 1985, in the midst of my doctoral work, The Calvin Alumni choir was chosen to perform at the national ACDA in Salt Lake City. I was 28 years old when I took them there, and they sang beautifully. 

When Dr. Jennings Kenneth Jennings announced his intention to retire from St. Olaf College, I applied for the position and was one of 5 finalists. It was an august group of people and I was fortunate to be selected. I’m now in my 35th year at St. Olaf, which doesn’t seem possible. I can see the lights at the end of the tunnel coming closer. I’ll have a few more years here, and it has been a rewarding career. 

Armstrong at Carnegie

What was it like returning to teach at your alma mater? 

It was intimidating coming back to St. Olaf. I had graduated only 12 years earlier, and many of the faculty had been my former professors. I did well as a student, but there was at least one professor whose class I tended to skip a lot. I remember at our first faculty meeting who was sitting right across from me in the meeting, but Arthur Campbell. He said, “Well, I hope all of your students show up to more of your classes than you came to mine.”  

It was also intimidating to follow the three incredible giants who had preceded me in this role: Kenneth Jennings, Olaf Christiansen, and F. Melius Christiansen. I was fortunate to have colleagues like Robert Scholz, Sigrid Johnson, and John Ferguson. These were not just my colleagues, they were my close friends. They were family to me. John Ferguson died in January of this year, and we lost Bob Scholz in 2021 and Sigrid in 2022. Bob Johnson – BJ – was my partner in crime for 25 years as Manager of Music Organizations. He died in 2019 from ALS. When each of my parents died, BJ and Sig flew out to New York to be with me and my family. I miss BJ and Sigrid terribly.  

I was very fortunate to be with people who always helped me and cheered me on. When I wanted to make changes, they were people I could consult. I was very fortunate, also, to work with people like Steve Amundsen, who conducted the St. Olaf Orchestra for 41 years. To have incredible colleagues like this is rare. It has been an unusual department. When I was a student here, the music department was very dysfunctional at times and people didn’t get along with each other. When I came back in 1990, it was a very different department where students were really put at the center. We have made it our mission to serve these students. We’ve worked hard to be servant leaders and not as egotists.  

Did you ever envision yourself returning to teach at home?  

It was a dream that I didn’t think would happen. I must have articulated it, though, because Andre Thomas, who has been one of my closest friends for 46 years, was working on his doctorate at the University of Illinois while I was working my masters, said I wanted to go back and be the conductor of the St. Olaf Choir. I don’t remember that being foremost in my mind, but I guess it was. I didn’t imagine I would get it though. This is one of the crown jewels of the college choirs. There are several, but this is certainly one.  

When the position was open in 1990, I was the youngest of the candidates. I knew there were a couple of candidates who were just a little older than me, and if they got the job, I’d never have a chance. Calvin College was an excellent institution, and if I had not gotten this job, I’m not sure that I would have gone anywhere else. There was a lot of potential there that others, like Pearl Shangkuan, have developed over the years. 

What has surprised you about teaching at Saint Olaf and what has kept you here? 

It wasn’t necessarily a surprise, but as I said, it was wonderful to come back to a healthier music department environment than I had experienced as a student. People really worked for the good of the students. We really work with each other, too, which in many schools is very unusual. We’re not Pollyannish, and we’ve had people come in who have tried to bring that silo mentality, but they haven’t lasted. We hire people who are great in their areas and their skills, but they’re a part of a team. This department has a lot of stars in it, but we sit on our egos. We make the students the focus of our attention. And that’s made it a much more desirable place to teach. 

Armstrong with Whitacre

The support we’ve had in touring and having our Christmas festival broadcast by PBS, has been wonderful. At St. Olaf we get talented, motivated students who work at a conservatory level but without all the madness that sometimes happens in a conservatory. There’s a joy being in the liberal arts. Out of my 75 singers, a good 35- 40% of them are non-music majors, and they’re wonderful singers. They bring sanity to people who’ve been spending all their days doing only music. 

I’ve had four or five job offers over the years to leave this place. All would have paid more money and four of the five would have been in warmer climates. But I wouldn’t have had the same quality of staff relationships that I have enjoyed here. I have also enjoyed that balance of being in a liberal arts setting. Our kids are challenged to use their brains beyond music. They’re in the same classes with an English major, a philosophy major or bio major, and they have to use their minds in that way. It makes them stronger learners and better human beings. 

Those things, and being in a community where what I do is respected and nurtured, has kept me here. 

What has changed in your time at St. Olaf?  

In the past 35 years the campus community has become much more diverse. We are truly a national liberal arts college, and we draw internationally. We are still rooted in a community of faith, but it’s much more ecumenical. 

I’ll be honest: students are more fragile than they used to be. In the last 25 years our students have had to deal with 9/11 which rattled the whole country and rattled the world. More recently, students have had to deal with Covid and being isolated from one another. So many students turned inward into themselves. That’s been the hardest thing. Since the pandemic I’ve seen a change. Students have much more sense of entitlement. It has become more about “Me” instead of “Us.” I conduct nationally and internationally so I see that it’s not unique to United States, but their willingness to be part of community and to work for the common good has changed. Our politics show that the common good is not what’s happening in this world, and our students reflect that.  

So, yes, students are more fragile. They’re still good people and good kids, but they need a lot. It’s been exhausting for a lot of folks, and people are being chased away from education. A lot of our emotional energy is being taken out of making the art and teaching to all the other issues. They need a lot more of my attention in terms of their emotional well-being. You can’t just ask for a pretty voice and forget the rest of their world. You get all of that comes out of a person. We know that in the arts, and especially in choral music, we must care for the whole person. My mentor, Helen Kemp’s mantra was, “Body, mind, spirit, voice, it takes the whole person to sing and rejoice.” Helen also taught me this; she said, “Anton, you must always love your students. You may not always like them, but you must love them, and at times that love will be a tough love.” I didn’t fully realize that until 2020. Within the next 3 years of years of teaching and trying to love students there are times when it was difficult. We’ve come out of that in large part, but not totally. 

I’ve also had to rethink how I make music relevant. I can’t just say that it’s good music. I have to make it relevant to them. And I have to help them in ways that I didn’t necessarily have to help them 35 years ago, 40 years ago. But now to be successful I have to help them find ownership. It doesn’t just come naturally, I have to guide them. 

Do you have advice for other teachers who find themselves teaching at their Alma Mater? 

I was warmly greeted when I returned, and so I hope that anybody returning to teach is as fortunate as I was. 

You should understand the shoulders on whom you rest. It wasn’t just Ken Jennings or the two Christiansens here at St. Olaf. There were many people who helped to build this place and were part of me. You need to recognize and acknowledge that you are not the new Messiah that has come to save the place. Sometimes I see a younger group of colleagues go into a new place, and all of a sudden, it’s like everything that came before is ignored.  I understand that some things need to be cleansed, especially if you’re following, as I did, a long-term leader. Trust yourself but come with humility. 

I also hope you have a group of friends who can be your counsel. Sometimes it may be your spouse or your partner, but I’m a single man, so I didn’t have that. My college roommate, Ralph Johnson, and his wife Laurie were here last night for dinner. Ralph could always lift me up when I needed to be lifted up. And, he could smack me down when I needed to be smacked down. Another one for me was Andre Thomas. These are people and supporters who listened, help me find clarity, and find the right path. BJ, Sigrid, Ferguson and Bob Scholz were all part of my team. Bob knew me from the time I was 18 and was always there to be a wonderful friend, mentor, and colleague. If I was about to step in stuff I shouldn’t be stepping in, he would give me advice. Those are the type of people I got to work with. I would hope that people returning to their home institutions could find people they could trust and could be their community.  

What advice do you have for those who teach in their home institutions as to how to sustain a career?  

You need to stay fresh. Thank God for sabbaticals. I felt totally emptied before the one I took in 2014. I asked for a sabbatical because I wanted the opportunity to go and see several places and programs that I have great respect for. I believed it would both inform me and refuel me, and it did.  

Be humble in your music making. We all have an ego, we all have our insecurities, and that’s why you need that tribe who will be there to lift you up. To set you right when they see you walking down the wrong path. I return to the philosophy of Helen Kemp: body, mind, spirit, voice, it takes the whole person. Music can be a healing balm. I learned in my years working with Helmut Rilling that music is a bridge to people. Choral music, especially, is one of the last social platforms we have left where people who may not agree about politics, religion, or anything else, can actually come together. They can sing and make beautiful music for the common good and maybe understand each other. Not see each other as enemies. We have one of the last vehicles in society to build understanding within our own country, within our own cities, within our own communities. We can take advantage of that and use it for good. Use it to build a more compassionate, more understanding, more caring group of human beings. The music is more than simple entertainment – it touches the hearts and minds of those who listen to the music and those who make the music. That must be the goal of what we do in the choral art. That’s what I try to do in my life, and it’s what I can do with whatever time I have left.

Elisabeth Cherland

Dr. Elisabeth Cherland is a fourth-generation choral conductor as well as professor, singer, song leader, violinist, and Lutheran church musician. As Director of Choral Activities at Minnesota State University, Mankato, she teaches courses in choral methods, conducting, private voice, and conducts the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers. She lives with her partner Kent and their two children in St. Peter. She loves storytelling and story-hearing, doughnuts, bubble tea, running (when the temperature is perfect and the course is flat), and sunshine when it’s available.