At St. Olaf, Aspaas conducts the Viking Chorus, an 88-voice ensemble of first-year student men, and the Chapel Choir, a 120-voice ensemble specializing in the performance of oratorio and larger multi-movement works. In recent years, Aspaas has led the Chapel Choir and St. Olaf Orchestra in performances of the Walton Coronation Te Deum, Mendelssohn Psalm 42, Mozart Te Deum, Fauré Requiem and Barber Prayers of Kierkegaard. In addition to conducting, he teaches choral literature, choral conducting, applied voice, and is active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator across the country. Aspaas has recently been appointed as the Music Director and Conductor for Magnum Chorum, a Twin Cities choral ensemble who is "Transforming Audiences through Artistry and Spirit." Last summer, Aspaas led choirs at the St. Olaf Summer Music Camp and St. Olaf Conference on Worship, Theology, and the Arts, and served as the Phyllis and Richard Duesenberg Concert Choir Chair at Lutheran Summer Music. Aspaas is in demand as a clinician and guest conductor, and is scheduled to conduct All-State Choruses in Wisconsin, and Virginia this year.

Aspaas is also active as a tenor soloist, performing Bach cantatas with Helmuth Rilling and the Oregon Bach Festival Orchestra, the Evangelist roles in the John and Matthew Passions of Bach with the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne, Ind., and other solo roles with the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra, the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, and the South Dakota Symphony Orchestra and the St. Petersburg Chamber Philharmonic in Russia. Most recently, Aspaas traveled to San Luis Obispo, California for a performance of Franz Josef Haydn’s Thereseinmesse and Johann Michael Haydn’s Requiem with the Cuesta Master Chorale and Orchestra.

Michael Gelfand is a dynamic and energetic leader with a proven record of success in orchestra building, fundraising, audience development and educational development. A native of New York City, Michael Gelfand has been conducting for over twenty-five years, and has performed with many of the world’s leading conductors as a member of the Cleveland Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Syracuse Symphony, Nice Philharmonic and Paris Chamber Orchestra in France. He is currently Music Director/Conductor of two orchestras, the Greenville Symphony in Greenville, Pennsylvania (since 2002), and the Ashtabula Area Orchestra, Ohio (since 1992). He also conducts the highly popular GSO Young Audience Concerts. As Music Director/Conductor of the Ashtabula Area Orchestra, concerts include subscription and pops, as well as performances with the Ashtabula Arts Center Ballet, Ashtabula County Choral Society, Youngstown Symphony Chorus, and the Messiah Chorus of Lake County.

Michael Gelfand received his Bachelor of Music degree at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, and his Master of Music degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, with Doctoral studies at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. He pursued conducting studies at Interlochen, Indiana University in Bloomington, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, Nice Adacemie d’Ete in Nice, France, the Pierre Monteux School for Advanced Conductors in Maine, and also as a Conducting Fellow at the Conductor’s Guild Workshops in San Francisco and West Virginia.

Gelfand is Professor of Music at Youngstown State University (since 1975). As a guest conductor, he has led the Youngstown Symphony, Warren Philharmonic (OH), Greenville Symphony (PA), Ashtabula Area Orchestra (OH), Richmond Chamber Orchestra (VA), All State Orchestras in West Virginia, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh District 5 and District 2 High School Orchestras, and International String Conference Orchestras. Recent guest conducting was in Rapid City, South Dakota, where he led four large orchestras ranging in size from 150 to 285 members at the Mt. Rushmore Civic Center Theater/Convention Center in two sold out concerts which were broadcast live on television statewide.

Gelfand conducts yearly performances of the Messiah with the Ashtabula Area Orchestra. He recently conducted performances of Carmina Burana with the Shenango Valley Chorale and the Greenville Symphony. He has taught and conducted at International String Conferences and music festivals from 1977 - 1997. He has performed at many music festivals including Tanglewood, Blossom, Riverbend, Colorado Music Festival, the Grand Teton Music Festival, Wolf Trap, Temple, and the Spoleto Festival, and in Spoleto, Italy.

Michael Gelfand is a former member of the Cleveland Orchestra, and in that capacity has participated in Grammy Award winning recordings with the Cleveland Orchestra, and has toured throughout the United States, Canada, Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand, Italy, Yugoslavia, and Austria. He performed in the inaugural concerts for the opening of the Sydney Opera House. Since 1990 he has performed concerts as a member of the Cincinnati Symphony.