John Armstrong studied composition at the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan and the Ecole d'arts Américains in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. Dr. Armstrong has won prizes in both the William St. Clair Lowe and Sir Ernest MacMillan competitions sponsored by the Composer's, Author's and Publisher's Association of Canada and has received commissions from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, Alberta Culture and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Performed and broadcast throughout Canada, his music has also been played in the United States, France and the United Kingdom. He is the author of a number of solo, chamber and orchestral pieces, many of which have received wide exposure. His music is published by Alberta Keys Music Publishing (Calgary), New Art Music Editions (Winnipeg) and also distributed by the Canadian Music Centre (Toronto). His principal interest is in the writing of chamber music, with a special focus on the guitar and the voice. His style ranges from the lyric and expressive (Songs for Lyra, Wind~Earth~Sea, False Spring), to the ironic (An die Musik II, The Last Waltz in Boston), to the more abstract (After the History, Improvisations and Interludes).
John Armstrong has taught Theory and Composition at the University of Western Ontario, Queen's University, McMaster University and the University of Alberta in Canada as well as the University of Lowell, Tufts and Harvard Universities in the United States. He currently an Adjunct Professor of Theory and Composition at the University of Ottawa.