The St. Olaf Choir with Conductor Anton Armstrong January 23, 2011

Countdown underway to the St. Olaf Choir’s 100th anniversary, celebrating its legacy as a creative force behind the a cappella choral tradition in America

(Northfield, Minn.) – Augustana Arts is please to announce The St. Olaf Choir with Conductor Anton Armstrong performing at Augustana Lutheran Church, 5000 E. Alameda at 3 p.m. on Sunday, January 23.Tickets are $30 Adult and $15 Senor/Student and can be ordered by calling 303-388-4962 or online at www.augustanaarts.org.

Founded in 1912 at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn., under the direction of F. Melius Christiansen, the St. Olaf Choir is internationally recognized as a creative force behind America’s a cappella choral tradition. With its centennial just one year away, this winter tour is part of the St. Olaf Choir’s countdown to its 100thanniversary, and its program will feature an eclectic program of sacred and secular masterpieces past and present, as well as works for grand pipe organ and chorus featuring soloist John Ferguson, one of America’s most respected church musicians and teachers who serves as professor of organ and church music at St. Olaf College.

The St. Olaf Choir is the premier choral ensemble of Minnesota’s St. Olaf College, and is best known today for its performances in the annual internationally broadcast “St. Olaf Christmas Festival” on PBS. The St. Olaf Choir is comprised of full-time undergraduate students at St. Olaf College, a liberal arts institution in Northfield, Minnesota, which currently enrolls about 3,000 students.

The singers commit to balancing full course loads with rehearsals five days a week, choir members perform concerts entirely from memory. Anton Armstrong has conducted the St. Olaf Choir since 1990. There have been only three other conductors of the St. Olaf Choir since its inception 98 years ago: Kenneth Jennings, Olaf Christiansen and the founder and first conductor F. Melius Christiansen.

The St. Olaf Choir has also been featured in a number of symphonic collaborations including, most recently, performances of Maurice Furuflé’s Requiem for Voices, Orchestra and Organ, Opus 9, with the Minnesota Orchestra under the baton of Osmo Vänskä in April 2010 at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis. The St. Olaf Choir has also performed with the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and under the direction of Sir Neville Marriner, Neemi Jarvi, Sir David Willcocks, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Andreas Delfs, Helmuth Rilling and the late Robert Shaw.

Touring, recording and broadcasts are all major components in the artistic life of the St. Olaf Choir. The St. Olaf Choir has performed for capacity audiences in major concert halls across the nation and overseas since 1920. Annual tours attract audiences totaling 25,000. Recent tours have included a 2009 tour to England, Wales and Ireland, a 2005 tour of Norway, a 2001 European tour including Paris, Prague, Vienna and Berlin, and a 1997 tour to Australia and New Zealand.

The St. Olaf Choir’s ever-expanding discography now features 25 discs following the 2007 and 2010 releases of Repertoire for Mixed Voices, Volume 1, and Repertoire for Mixed Voices, Volume 2, which are two-disc compilations of “home concert” recordings from the 2001 to 2008 national tours recorded in Boe Memorial Chapel on the campus of St. Olaf College. All recordings are available through St. Olaf Records atwww.stolafrecords.com or 1-888-232-6523. To learn more about the St. Olaf Choir, log on towww.stolafchoir.com.

Augustana Arts presents The St. Olaf Choir with Conductor Anton Armstrong - A program of sacred and secular masterpieces as well as works for grand pipe organ and chorus. Sunday, January 23 @ 3 p.m. Augustana Lutheran Church, 5000 E. Alameda Ave, Denver. $30 Adult; $15 Senor/Student - 303-388-4962 or online at www.augustanaarts.org.