Anton Armstrong, Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, became the fourth conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990 after ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he had served on the faculty of Calvin College and led the Calvin College Alumni 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 and Michigan State University. He is editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications and co-editor (with John Ferguson) of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers. In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy. During 2015-16 season, Dr. Armstrong will serve as the only non-Japanese juror for the 68th Japan Choral Association National Choral Festival. He is also serving as guest conductor of two of the finest professional choruses in the United States: The Houston Chamber Choir and The Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati. He has also been selected as Conductor of the 2016 Indiana All-State Choir and a plenary speaker for the North Central ACDA Conference in Sioux Falls, SD. In the summer of 2016, international lecturing appearances will take him to Hamar, Norway for the Norwegian Summer Choral School and the American Cantat 8 in the Bahamas. Additionally, he will lead choral festivals at Carnegie Hall, New York; Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Costa Mesa, CA; and St. Ignatius Church, San Francisco. He has received many outstanding awards: the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching from Baylor University in 2006, the Distinguished Alumni Awards from the American Boychoir School in 2007 and Michigan State University in 2009 and the Saltzman Award from the Oregon Bach Festival in 2013. 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.

Composer and conductor born and raised in Tokyo. Matsushita graduated at the top of his class from the Kunitachi College of Music, Department of Composition, and went on to study chorus conducting under the late prof. Reményi János, and prof. Erdei Péter in Budapest and Kecskemét (Kodály institute), Hungary. He is currently the conductor and artistic director of 14 choirs, which are often invited to perform in Japan, Europe, America, Canada, and Asia. They have also achieved excellent showings in the choral circuit and won awards in international competitions. A prolific composer and arranger, Matsushita’s works are performed around the world. His compositions vary widely, ranging from works based on traditional Japanese music, Masses, motets, to etudes for choirs. Besides conducting and composing, Matsushita is also an active workshop clinician and lecturer both within and outside Japan. Most recently, His choir The Metropolitan Chorus of Tokyo and he was invited to the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA as a guest choir and a panelist for Composer’s speak out, more over as a lecturer for reading session in February 2015. He is a member of the artistic committee of the 11th World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona 2017. In 2005, he became the first Asian to receive the “Robert Edler Prize for Choral Music” in recognition of his outstanding achievements worldwide in conducting, composing, performance, and education within the field of choral music. He is currently the Artistic director of the Karuizawa International Choral Festival and Tokyo Choral Alliance KOYUKAI, a board member of the Tokyo Choral Association, as well as a member of the Japan Choral Directors Association, the International Kodaly Society, and a representative of the Workshop of the Choral Expression. Furthermore he is a member of Japan Composers & Arrangers Association, Guest conductor for Beijing University Mixed Choir.

Dr. Chin-Seup Yom has been the Professor of Choral Music at Baekseok Arts University and the Music Director in Uijeongbu Civic Chours in Korea. He earned the D.M.A. degree in choral conducting from Arizona State University, the M.M. degree in choral conducting from University of Hartford, Connecticut and the B.M degree in voice from Seoul National University, Korea. He was the Assistant Professor at the Presbyterian University, Korea and conducted the Christian Broadcasting Company Choir. Since 1998, he has been the Artistic Director and Conductor of National Chorus of Korea and has toured more than 10 major cities of the US, Canada, several European and Asian countries with them. He has successfully finished the 2002 International Choir Olympic as the Artistic Director, and served as a jury of the Sanghai International Spring Music Festival and the Qingdao International Choral Competition. He has also invited from the Conservatory of Tianjin of China as the Guest Professor for 2 years.