About
Anders Holm-Larsen has served as Professor of Music and Conductor of the AB Concert Choir since 2014. Under his direction the AB Concert Choir has become a regional and national presence — invited to perform at the ACDA Eastern Division Conference (2019, 2024), invited as a feature ensemble at the Vienna International Choral Festival (2023), and currently preparing for a 2026 tour of Vienna, Prague, and Warsaw.
Holm-Larsen was born in Bergen, Norway, and emigrated with his family to the United States at age 11. He holds a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music (2006), an M.M. in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College (2001), and a B.M. in Music Education from St. Olaf College (1999). His doctoral mentor was the late Dale Warland.
Before AB he taught at Concordia College (Moorhead, MN), at the Westminster Choir College, and at the University of Toledo. He came to AB in 2014 partly because his wife — Dr. Sigrid Holm (no relation), a primary-care physician — had family roots in north-central West Virginia and partly because, as he tells it, "a 1,100-student university with a 600-seat auditorium is the closest thing in America to a Norwegian liberal-arts college."
Education
- 2006D.M.A., Choral Conducting — Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Dissertation conducting project: a complete cycle of Knut Nystedt's sacred choral works.
- 2001M.M., Choral Conducting — Westminster Choir College.
- 1999B.M., Music Education (summa cum laude) — St. Olaf College.
Teaching
Dr. Holm-Larsen conducts the AB Concert Choir, teaches the choral conducting sequence, and teaches in the AB Music Education program.
- MUS 200AB Concert ChoirThe auditioned 32-voice concert choir of Alderson Broaddus University. Rehearses MWF 4:00–5:30 PM. 1-credit; may be repeated.
- MUS 410Choral Conducting I & IIA two-semester upper-division course in choral conducting technique, choral score study, and ensemble pedagogy.
- MUS 350Music History: Renaissance & BaroqueA junior-level music-history survey from Josquin through J.S. Bach. Includes a major performance project.
Performance, Scholarship & International Touring
Holm-Larsen's scholarly and performance work centers on Nordic and Scandinavian sacred choral repertoire — especially the music of Knut Nystedt, Egil Hovland, Cecilie Ore, and Ola Gjeilo — and on the historically informed performance of late-Renaissance polyphony.
He is the founding director of the AB International Choral Tour, which has taken the AB Concert Choir abroad five times since 2015 (Norway 2015, England 2017, Iceland 2019, Vienna 2023, and the upcoming 2026 Vienna/Prague/Warsaw tour). He has also led choral residencies and clinics across Norway, Sweden, and Finland.
Selected Publications & Presentations
- 2024Editor, The Nystedt Choral Anthology, Vol. II. Walton Music.
- 2022"Performing Norway: The Nordic Sacred Repertoire for North American Choirs." Choral Journal.
- 2021"Building an International Choir on a Small-College Budget." ACDA Choral Journal.
- 2026Featured conductor, Vienna International Choral Festival.
- 2024Guest conductor, Norwegian Soloists' Choir, Bergen.
Honors & Service
- 2024ACDA Eastern Division Conducting Award.
- 2023AB Faculty Award for Distinguished Achievement.
- 2019WV Music Educators Association Conductor of the Year.
- 2014Promoted to Professor of Music.
- 1999St. Olaf Music Department Outstanding Senior.
Choral music is not a soft art. It is the most disciplined thing a 19-year-old can do: stand next to twenty-nine other 19-year-olds and not be heard as a soloist, while still being entirely yourself.— Dr. Anders Holm-Larsen
Beyond the Classroom
Holm-Larsen lives in Buckhannon with his wife Sigrid and their two teenage children. He is an enthusiastic amateur cross-country skier (he has competed in the Birkebeiner in Norway twice), a serious cook of all things Scandinavian (his annual Lucia Day dinner for the AB Concert Choir is a December institution), and a member of the Bergen-Buckhannon Sister City Committee.
He hosts a weekly choral-music listening evening at his home — open to any AB student, with strict rules: no talking during the music, real coffee, real krumkake.