Meet the 2027 ACDA National Conference
Welcome to Minneapolis Choirs
Minnesota Boychoir
Mark Johnson, Conductor
The Minnesota Boychoir, now in its sixty-fifth season, is the oldest continually operating boys choir in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area. Their reputation for excellence has brought invitations from local and national music conventions, as well as sporting events and touring Broadway companies. The choir has performed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera, the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Baltimore Symphony, the Prague Philharmonic, and a long list of local and national performers. The Boychoir has traveled to six continents with recent tours that included performances at Sydney’s Opera House, Saint Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican, Montserrat Abbey in Barcelona, Carnegie Hall in New York City, and Johannesburg and Cape Town in South Africa. The Minnesota Boychoir trains young men to be outstanding musicians and strives to help them develop a sense of poise and self-confidence through education and performance.
Mark Johnson began his work with the Minnesota Boychoir in 1992 as the accompanist and was hired as the artistic director in 1993. Johnson holds a degree in vocal music education from St. Olaf College, and he taught junior high choral music for six years before becoming full-time conductor of the Boychoir. Johnson’s reputation in choral work, especially with children’s groups, has led to many invitations to work as a clinician, accompanist, and adjudicator for honors choirs and festivals around the globe. He was honored by Minnesota ACDA in 2022 with the Minnesota Choral Director of the Year Award, and he is currently president of the organization, serving in a leadership capacity until 2029. In November 2025, Johnson received an alumni award from his alma mater for outstanding service and work in the arts community, specifically his long-time service and work with the Minnesota Boychoir.
Anima of Northfield Youth Choirs
Michelle Bendett, Artistic Director
Anima (life, soul, spirit, breath, mind) is the grades 6–12 treble ensemble of Northfield Youth Choirs, empowering singers to step into their strength and discover the power of their unique voices. Through a wide variety of musical styles, these young artists learn to trust their sound, lead with confidence, and express themselves fully through song. In a warm and encouraging environment, Anima inspires singers to own their artistic journeys while lifting one another up. The choir is more than a performance group—it is an uplifting community bound together by annual retreats, local outreach, regional summer tours, and seasonal concerts. True to their name, they bring passion, connection, heart, and undeniable energy to every stage they share.
Michelle Bendett prioritizes community building and meaningful music-making as artistic director of Northfield Youth Choirs, where she conducts Anima and Concert Choir (grades 6–12). She is also in her twenty-fifth year of public school teaching, directing choirs at Northfield Middle School. Bendett holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music education from The Florida State University. Her choirs consistently earn top ratings and state conference invitations, with high enrollment garnering state recognition. Beyond the classroom, she serves nationwide as an adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor, and has served as an ACDA national honor choir coordinator. A passionate advocate for music education, Bendett is proud of her former students now teaching across the country. Her greatest role is raising a young singer of her own, her daughter, Aïda.
VocalEssence Ensemble Singers
Philip Brunelle, Artistic Director and Founder
The VocalEssence Ensemble Singers have established an international reputation because of their extensive catalog of recordings and broad range of unique repertoire. This chamber choir, whose members hail from a wide variety of professions, is bound together by their skilled artistry to create what The Times of London has described as a “flawless” sound.
Philip Brunelle, in his fifty-eighth year as artistic director and founder of VocalEssence, is an internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar, and visionary. He has conducted symphonies, choral festivals, and operas on six continents. He holds five honorary degrees, served nine years as vice president of IFCM (International Federation for Choral Music), and has been recognized for his commitment to choral music by the governments of Norway, Hungary, Sweden, Mexico, and the United Kingdom. In 2019 he was awarded the American Prize in Choral Conducting; in 2020 he was given the Honorary Member Award by the Society for American Music; and in 2024 he was appointed a national arts associate of the Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity. Brunelle is also organist-choirmaster at Plymouth Congregational Church, Minneapolis. He and his wife, Carolyn, a studio artist, have three children and seven grandchildren.
St. Olaf Choir
Anton Armstrong, Conductor
The St. Olaf Choir has set the gold standard for choral singing for over a century, performing for millions around the world. Comprising seventy-five undergraduate mixed voices, the St. Olaf Choir is hailed as one of the nation’s premier a cappella ensembles, renowned for its artistry and beauty of sound. The St. Olaf Choir was founded in 1912 by F. Melius Christiansen, whose work established the ensemble’s standard of excellence and its tradition of bringing music to audiences outside of campus. When Anton Armstrong took the helm in 1990, following Kenneth Jennigs and Olaf Christiansen, he added more flavor to the choir’s signature sound and further expanded its repertoire to include music of the Pacific Rim, Africa, and Latin America. The ensemble has toured internationally sixteen times, including three weeks in South Africa in 2024, performing alongside Tuks Camerata, Quava Vocal Group, and other standout choral ensembles.
Anton Armstrong is in his thirty-seventh year as conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, marking him as the longest tenured conductor in the ensemble’s storied 115-year history. He is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, becoming the fourth conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990 after ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served on the faculty of Calvin University and led the Calvin Alumni Choir, the Calvin Campus 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 (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA). He is editor of a multicultural choral series for earthsongs Publications, the St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers, and the Anton Armstrong Signature Choral Series with Gentry Publications.
Mark your calendars to start your 2027 ACDA National Conference experience with these choirs at the Welcome to Minneapolis Concert to be held on Sunday, March 7, 2027 at 8:00pm at the Minnesota Orchestra Hall Lindahl Auditorium.
