John Armstrong, born in Toronto in 1952, studied composition at the University of Toronto, the University of Michigan in the USA and the Ecole d'arts américains in Paris with Nadia Boulanger. His principal interest is in the writing of chamber music, with a special focus on the guitar and the voice. His style ranges form the lyric and expressive (Songs for Lyra, Circle's End) to the ironic (An die Musik II, The Last Waltz in Boston) to the more abstract (Ghosts).