Rick Erickson, Artistic Director
Rick Erickson is the Director of Bach Society Houston and Cantor at Christ the King Lutheran Church. He is also Instructor in music at the Shepherd School of Music, Rice University.
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A native of Wisconsin, Rick holds degrees from the University of Wisconsin-Superior, from which he also received the Distinguished Alumnus Award in 2009, the Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance and Literature and the Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, where he also served for four years on the faculty of Improvfest.
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Rick has appeared as a conductor, church music lecturer, and hymn festival leader throughout the United States, and in Germany, Sweden, Australia and New Zealand. He has performed for conventions of the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, among other music events. He has recorded for Naxos, JV Recordings, and Media 1517.
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Prior to coming to Houston, Rick served for 22 years as Director of the celebrated Bach Vespers series in New York.
Ben Kerswell is Artistic Director Designate of Bach Society Houston, Cantor (Music Director) at Christ the King Lutheran Church in Houston, and Choral Conducting Fellow (2025–26) with the Houston Chamber Choir. In 2023, he helped lead Bach Society Houston’s Bach Choir, alongside Artistic Director Rick Erickson, at BachFest Leipzig, performing at the Thomaskirche on opening weekend of the festival.
An active recitalist, Kerswell appeared as a Rising Star at the 2018 American Guild of Organists National Convention (Kansas City) and was a semi-finalist in the 2020 National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. He completed doctoral coursework and the Master of Music in Organ Performance at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, studying with Ken Cowan, and earned the Bachelor of Music at St. Olaf College with Catherine Rodland, where he also served as pianist and bass section leader of the St. Olaf Choir. Previous posts include Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church (Houston) and the Church of St. Louis, King of France (St. Paul).