Music Ensembles Faculty
Steven Amundson is in his 28th year on the faculty of St. Olaf College where he is Professor of Music and Conductor of the St. Olaf Orchestra. He also teaches courses in music theory, ear training and conducting, and conducts the Philharmonia. Before his arrival to Minnesota, Amundson held conducting posts at the University of Virginia, Tacoma Community College, and as Music Director of the Tacoma Youth Symphony. He is the also founding conductor of the Twin Cities' based Metropolitan Symphony that he led for five years, and served as Music Director and Conductor of the Bloomington (MN) Symphony from 1984 – 1997. He has held posts on the conducting faculty for the Interlochen National Arts Camp, the Lutheran Summer Music Program and has served as guest conductor for many All-State orchestra festivals throughout the United States. In Minnesota, Amundson has appeared as guest conductor with the Duluth-Superior Symphony Orchestra, the Fargo-Moorhead Symphony, the Minneapolis Pops Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. A commissioned composer and arranger, Amundson is published by MMB Music and the Neil A. Kjos Music Co. His self-published compositions are available through Tempo Music Resource. His orchestral works have received over 400 performances by university, civic and professional orchestras in the U.S., Canada, Europe and Asia including the Chicago, Cincinnati, Detroit, Dallas, Houston, San Diego, Toronto and BBC Symphonies. A 1977 graduate of Luther College, Amundson obtained the Master of Music degree in orchestral conducting from Northwestern University, and did further studies at the University of Virginia, the Aspen Music School and the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. In the 1980 International Conducting Competition hosted by the Mozarteum and Austrian National Radio, Amundson won the first (Hans Häring) prize. In 1992, the Minnesota Music Education Association named him "Minnesota Orchestra Educator of the Year." In 1995, Amundson received the Carlo A. Sperati Award from Luther College in recognition of his meritorious achievement in the field of music. |
Anton Armstrong is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and Conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, a position he assumed in 1990. He came to this position following ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan where he served on the faculty of Calvin College and conducted the Campus Choir, the Calvin College Alumni Choir and the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus. A graduate of St. Olaf College, Anton Armstrong earned a Master of Music degree at the University of Illinois and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Michigan State University. He holds membership in several professional societies including the American Choral Directors Association, Choristers Guild, Chorus America, and the International Federation for Choral Music. He also serves as editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications and co-editor of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers. Dr. Armstrong is widely recognized for his work in the area of youth and children's choral music. He served for over twenty years on the summer faculty of the American Boychoir School, Princeton, New Jersey and held the position of Conductor of the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale, a 75 voice treble chorus based in Grand Rapids, from 1981-1990. He is the founding conductor of the Troubadours, 30-voice boys' ensemble of the Northfield Youth Choirs since 1991. He currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Boychoir School, the Board of Chorus America and the Board of Choristers Guild. In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy. Anton Armstrong has conducted the St. Olaf Choir in critically acclaimed solo concert performances at the 59th National Conference of the Music Educators National Conference in April 2004, the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music in August 2002, and at the 1999 National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Chicago, Illinois. In February 2005, The St. Olaf Choir shared the stage with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in presenting the finale concert for the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association at the new Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, California. |
Christopher Aspaas received his Ph.D. in Choral Music Education at The Florida State University in Tallahassee, his M.M. in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University in East Lansing, his B.M. in Voice Performance from St. Olaf. Christopher has served on the faculties of Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. |
James E. Bobb joins the St Olaf faculty with more than 20 years’ experience directing church music in Lutheran and United Church of Christ congregations. Bobb holds performer’s certificates and M.M. degrees and in organ and harpsichord performance and literature from the Eastman School of Music where his teachers included Russell Saunders and David Craighead in organ and Arthur Haas in harpsichord. His undergraduate work was at Capital University where his teachers were Janet Linker in organ and Frank Hussey in piano. As the Minister of Music at First Congregational Church, Columbus, Ohio from 2009-2012, Bobb presided over a three-manual 1972 Rudolph von Becherath organ of 73 ranks, a four-manual 1931 W. W. Kimball organ of 66 ranks, four parish ensembles and two concert series. He also taught organ and organ literature at Capital University in Columbus. For fifteen years prior to that, Bobb served the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word in Rochester New York. There he led parish ensembles of all ages, conducted the St. John Passion and other works by Bach, Buxtehude, Schütz, Gabrieli, Purcell, and Telemann, and led the choir on a tour of Sweden. Also in Rochester, he was director of the Rochester Bach Festival, an instructor in Sacred Music at the Eastman School of Music, Adjunct Professor of organ at Nazareth College, and a chapter dean of the American Guild of Organists. At the harpsichord, Bobb has performed Bach’s Goldberg Variations in Manhattan, Boston, Rochester, and Baltimore. He has appeared as organ and harpsichord soloist, conductor, and continuo player with The Publick Musick and the Rochester Bach Festival. With The Publick Musick, he had appeared in New York, Indiana, Maine, and Germany, and has recorded music of Telemann and Vivaldi. Bobb has also enjoyed leading hymn festivals in Ohio, New York, Georgia, and Oklahoma. |
|
 David HagedornArtist in Residence — Percussion and World Music Director of Jazz Ensembles hagedord@stolaf.edu http://www.stolaf.edu/depts/music/percussion David Hagedorn is an Artist in Residence in the Music Department at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, where he teaches percussion, jazz studies, and world music. St. Olaf Jazz I received an award for best undergraduate large jazz band in the Downbeat magazine 2011 student music awards. |
|
 Gerald HoekstraProfessor of Music — History and Literature Conductor of Collegium Musicum and Early Music Singers hoekstra@stolaf.edu Hoekstra teaches music history and directs the St. Olaf early music ensembles, the Collegium Musicum and Early Music Singers. His area of specialization is music of the Renaissance, particularly the French and Flemish chanson. He has published articles in Early Music, Musica Disciplina, Speculum, and The Choral Journal, and he has published critical editions of music of Hubert Waelrant, André Pevernage, and others, most recently an edition of the Cantiones sacrae of Pevernage in three volumes of the series Recent Researches in the Music of the Renaissance. He is a member of the American Musicological Society, the Viola da Gamba Society of America, Sixteenth Century Studies Society, and Early Music America. In 2002 EMA presented him with Thomas Binkley Award, a national collegium directors award. He has served on the board of Early Music America and chaired the EMA Committee for Early Music in Higher Education from 2001-2009. Hoekstra earned his B.A. from Calvin College and master's and doctoral degrees in music history from The Ohio State University under a University Fellowship. |
Johnson received a B.M. in vocal performance from St. Cloud State University and an M.M. in voice performance from the University of Michigan. She is the conductor of the Manitou Singers. Before her appointment at St. Olaf, she was on the music faculties of Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter and at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. Ms. Johnson is also the Associate Conductor of the Ensemble Singers and Chorus for Philip Brunelle’s VocalEssence, formerly known as the Plymouth Music Series of Minnesota. Ms. Johnson maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and clinician at choral festivals and all-state music festivals across the country and has conducted choral workshops in Australia. She is a member of the American Choral Director's Association (ACDA), Music Educator’s National Conference (MENC), the International Federation for Choral Music and Chorus America. In January through March 1999, Ms. Johnson conducted the National Lutheran Choir of Minneapolis. Ms. Johnson has served as Conductor of the Dale Warland Symphonic Chorus and the Associate Conductor of the Dale Warland Singers. She has prepared symphonic choruses for Neemi Jarvi, Sir Neville Mariner, David Zinman, Stanislaw Skrowaczewsky, Gerard Swartz, Edo de Waart, and Leonard Slatkin among others. In August 2002, she was one of the featured lecturers for the Sixth World Symposium on Choral Music. In October 2004, Mrs. Johnson was a featured lecturer and clinician at the Australian National Choral Directors National Conference in Adelaide. In 2006 she was a member of the esteemed jury for the Bela Bartok International Choral Competition in Debrecen, Hungary and in 2008 she will be a lecturer on choral sound for the Eighth World Symposium on Choral Music in Copenhagen. |
Ms. Mahr holds a B.M. degree in flute performance and music education with a jazz minor from the University of Minnesota, Duluth. She earned a Master of Music degree in Flute Performance at Northwestern University, where she studied with Walfrid Kujala of the Chicago Symphony. In addition to flute instruction, Ms. Mahr directs the St. Olaf Handbell Choir, the St. Olaf Chapel Ringers, and oversees the direction of the student-led Manitou Handbell Choir. Previously she was director of the King's Ringers at Mount of Olives Baptist Church in Duluth, MN. She is an active member of AGEHR (American Guild of English Handbell Ringers) and is currently their Area VII secretary. Ms. Mahr is principal flute in the Mankato Symphony Orchestra, flute instructor at Minnesota State University in Mankato, Carleton College and has a private flute studio in her home. |
www.stolaf.edu/people/mahr |
Niemisto earned B.M. and M.M. degrees from the University of Michigan School of Music. He is conductor of the Norseman Band here at St. Olaf College. He has been a member of the Scandinavian Symphony Orchestra of Detroit, Toledo Symphony, Flint (Mich.) Symphony, Las Palmas Opera Festival Orchestra (Spain), and Atlantic Symphony Orchestra (Canada). Niemisto studied trombone with Edward Kleinhammer of the Chicago Symphony and tuba with Abe Torchinsky. In recent years, he has been a clinician and soloist at festivals in Canada and Scandinavia, and he founded American Poijat, a Finnish brass band. |
Darrin Thomas is a musician, songwriter, and choral director of gospel music, and is committed to sharing this style of music with the world. He strongly believes that every person has a musical talent that can be cultivated into something beautiful and enjoyable. Darrin's passion for music began more than 30 years ago, when he played drums for his father’s church, located in the Twin Cities. It was while watching his mother direct the choir that he became interested in gospel choirs. Under her tutelage, he was given the privilege to be president and choir director of the Greater St. Paul Church of God in Christ. Darrin has worked with various choirs across the Twin Cities metropolitan area teaching, conducting workshops, and coordinating concert performances. |
Instructor in Music, William A. Webb, M.A. music education, VanderCook College of Music, Chicago, Illinois; B.A. Music Education, College of St. Thomas, St Paul MN. Additional study in conducting workshops and masterclasses with Frederick Fennell, Craig Kirchhoff, H. Robert Reynolds, Bud Beyer, John Whitwell, Allan McMurray, William Revelli, Miles Johnson, Frank Bencriscutto, John Paynter, Arnold Gabriel. |
Artistic Co-Director of Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, he has performed worldwide, recorded extensively, built over 100 programs of Renaissance and early Baroque music and commissioned new works for early winds and chorus. He has been very fortunate to perform with many of the world's leading early music ensembles, in festivals in North and South America and throughout Europe, and in spaces contemporary with the music that helped him define the role, sound and capabilities of double reeds in historic performance settings. He is an eager and well-appreciated teacher and lecturer in college and university settings, having directed the Early Music Ensembles at the Esther Boyer College of Music and Dance at Temple University for 20 years, bringing the world of early reeds to modern players. He also teaches regularly at festivals and workshops throughout the country. Currently, in addition to his performing, researching, recording and educating responsibilities, he continues to attempt to plumb the depths of early reed technique in an effort to understand the mysteries of these glorious instruments. |
|
