Under Jennings' direction, the choir expanded its repertoire and began occasionally performing accompanied music and larger works.

In 1988, it became one of five choirs in the world to sing at the Olympic Choral Arts Festival in Seoul, South Korea.

Armstrong further broadened the choir's performance repertoire by emphasizing worldly music, American spirituals, and occasional secular pieces.

[4] In 2005 the St. Olaf Choir performed at the White House for President George W. Bush to commemorate The National Day of Prayer.

That same year, the choir performed in the final concerts of the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, only to sing the next day in an acclaimed performance at New York's Carnegie Hall.

In 2007, the choir appeared in a live simulcast of the St. Olaf Christmas Festival, which showed on more than 180 movie theatres across the nation and reach 2.5 million viewers on a later PBS broadcast.

[4] Also in 2007, the St. Olaf Choir's recording of "Lacrimosa" from Mozart's Requiem appeared in a television commercial for Nike to promote their new Air Jordan XXII shoes.