SFYCA: Faculty

Anton Armstrong (conductor) has been the conductor of the Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy since its founding in 1998. He is Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, a position he assumed in 1990. Dr. Armstrong is widely recognized for his work in the area of youth and children's choral music. He served for more than twenty years on the summer faculty of the American Boychoir School, Princeton, New Jersey. In 2006 he was honored with Baylor University’s Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching.

Helmuth Rilling is the Oregon Bach Festival's founding artistic director and conductor. One of the world's Bach experts, he was artistic director of the "Edition Bachakademie," the ultimate Bach's set-more than 1,000 works of music on 172 CDs, released on the Hänssler label. In 1981 he founded the International Bachakademie Stuttgart, an institution that further inspired similar Bach academies in Buenos Aires, Cracow, Prague, Moscow, Budapest, and Tokyo. He has been a guest conductor with most of the world’s major orchestras, including those of Chicago, Cleveland, Minneapolis, Vienna, Madrid, Caracas, and Berlin.

Therees Tkach Hibbard is a specialist in the approach called "BodySinging," enhancing choral performance through movement training, which she teaches at the SFYCA. She is a longtime member of the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and is assistant professor of choral music, conducting, and choral literature at the University of Nebraska. Previously she worked for twelve years as a choral conductor, singing tutor, and senior lecturer at several UK colleges and universities in the London area. Her work as a movement specialist in the training of choral singers and conductors has created unique opportunities for her to work with choirs and conductors from around the world.

Matthew Svoboda teaches theory and musicianship at the SFYCA and is active as a music teacher, conductor, and composer in Eugene, OR. He serves as Choir Conductor/Director of Operations for Oregon Festival Choirs and as Director of Music at Central Presbyterian Church in Eugene. He earned master's degrees in Choral Conducting (2003) and Composition (2004) from the University of Oregon.

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