Choral Festival

St. Olaf Choral Festival

Since 1904, St. Olaf College has hosted choirs from across the country to share their talents and embrace the joy and community that arise from singing as one. The St. Olaf Choral Festival offers an exhilarating opportunity for choirs to experience instruction from world-renown conductor, Anton Armstrong.

Please note that there is no St. Olaf Choral Festival scheduled for the 2024-25 academic year. We appreciate your interest and encourage you to stay tuned for future announcements regarding the next event date. Any updates about future Choral Festivals will be posted here. Thank you for your support!

UPDATE: The 2023 St. Olaf Choral Festival has been canceled.

-> To complete registration, please complete the following 4 steps by Wednesday, October 18:

Click here to officially register any directors and reserve places for your students.
Forward this link to any students who would like to register for the optional campus tour.
Click here to fill out the Hosting Minors Form. The college wants to assure the safety of minors who visit our campus. Please fill out this form on behalf of your student(s) and return it via email to choralfest@stolaf.edu. Only one form is required per school.
Please make sure you and your students are aware of the student schedule, repertoire, COVID-19 protocol, and other info that can be found on this website.

-> Note that there is a $20 participation fee per individual to register for Choral Festival, which will include lunch for all participants in Stav Hall (ranked in the top-five college cafeterias in the country by The Princeton Review!), along with an admissions info session and a day of instruction led by St. Olaf choral faculty. Students will also have the opportunity to join a campus walking tour from 9–10:15am before registration begins.

-> There is no limit to the number of high school students who may register per school, but final registration numbers will be capped when we reach a maximum number of participants.

Concert Details:

Sunday, November 5, 4:30pm. Free and open to the public. Concert will be approximately 75 minutes in length.

Schedule:

Student Schedule

Campus Tour:

A campus tour option is available at 9:00am (before the Choral Festival program begins) for students wishing to learn more about the St. Olaf community. Interested students should sign up for a tour by clicking here.

Seating Arrangements:

-> Participants will be arranged by voice section.

*Contact choralfest@stolaf.edu with questions.

Directors should order the following repertoire for their participating students:

SSA Repertoire:

“Stardust” by B. E. Boykin (Graphite Publishing BP-B019)

“Doraji” arr. Yoojin Muhn/Korean folk song (Pavane Publishing/Hal Leonard distributor P1497)

TTB Repertoire:

“Kin” by Timothy C. Takach (Graphite Publishing (no catalog number))

“Gamaya” by Paul John Rudoi (Graphite Publishing R013.1 – Equal Voices)

SATB Repertoire:

“Love Has Broken Down the Wall” by Mark A. Miller (Choristers Guild CA 1384; SATB/piano)

Repertoire does not need to be memorized before the event.

The college wants to assure the safety of minors who visit our campus. Below is the link to the online form we ask the group leader fill out when they bring high school groups to campus. The information must be passed on to the students in whatever way seems easiest. Reading the form out loud to them in class or on the bus before arrival would suffice.

-> GUEST POLICIES AND BEHAVIOR EXPECTATIONS FORM

There are no assigned changing areas in Skoglund, so we ask that everyone come wearing your concert attire. Concert attire can be whatever students wear to perform at their own school (robes, all black, etc.) Personal belongings should be secured in your bus or vehicle, and valuables should be left at home. For those wearing robes, you should plan to wear what you will wear under your robe so that you can easily put your robe over the top. (Singers can drape their robe over an audience seat during rehearsals and put them on before the concert.)

St. Olaf provides a comprehensive education in music with deep roots in the liberal arts. Oles find a distinguished and committed faculty, a rich and challenging curriculum, outstanding performance opportunities, and a large community of talented and intelligent student musicians.

->St. Olaf Admissions

->Music Scholarships

Anton Armstrong, Conductor

Anton Armstrong is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Chair in Music, Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and Conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, a position he assumed in 1990.

Full Bio

Therees Hibbard, Conductor

Therees Tkach Hibbard serves as the director of the Manitou Singers and St. Olaf Chamber Singers. She is an Associate Professor of Music at St. Olaf College where she teaches choral conducting, choral literature, and voice.

Full Bio

Adam Reinwald, Conductor

Adam Reinwald will lead Viking Chorus and the St. Olaf Chapel Choir as an Adjunct Instructor in Music at St. Olaf this year. He is a nationally recognized vocal chamber artist and conductor, and is in demand as a coach and strategist for small- to mid-size arts organizations, focusing on new media and virtual/digital branding.

Full Bio

A Lasting Impact

The very first time Levi Wick ’19 visited St. Olaf College, he sang alongside hundreds of students and community members as part of Choral Festival. He was mesmerized by the beautiful sound.

“I knew at that moment — as a high school freshman — that I wanted to join a choir in college,” he said. “When it came time to look at schools, St. Olaf was at the top of my list.”