‘Performance Today’ highlights St. Olaf Choir’s tribute to André Thomas
The final section of the St. Olaf Choir’s national tour program – We Sing of Hope and Love – pays tribute André J. Thomas, one of the nation’s most treasured choral composers and conductors.
Thomas, a longtime friend and colleague of St. Olaf Choir Conductor Anton Armstrong ’78, will retire this spring after 30 years as a professor of choral music education at Florida State University in Tallahassee.
The St. Olaf Choir will bring the tribute directly to him with a performance on Tuesday, February 5, at 7:30 p.m. in Ruby Diamond Concert Hall at Florida State University.
“This is our opportunity to pay tribute to a man whose music has been a large part of the St. Olaf Choir’s repertoire during my 29 years as its conductor.”
“This is our opportunity to pay tribute to a man whose music has been a large part of the St. Olaf Choir’s repertoire during my 29 years as its conductor,” says Armstrong. “We will perform three of André’s works: Rockin’ Jerusalem, I Dream A World, and Gloria from his Gospel Mass.”
Armstrong and Thomas spoke about their friendship and work together on the Peabody Award-winning classical music radio program Performance Today with host Fred Child. Their segment on the February 1 episode begins at 49:45 in Hour Two.
Learn more about the St. Olaf Choir’s national tour below.