Ben Luedcke is the choir director at Seattle First Baptist Church in downtown Seattle and was recently promoted as the new Minister of Music. In addition to directing the choir, Ben coordinates special music and congregational singing, as well as organizes outsides collaborations and musical outreach.  He is currently finishing his Doctorate of Musical Arts at University of Washington, studying with Dr. Geoffrey Boers and Dr. Giselle Wyers, and he has held teaching positions in the choral, musicology, and English departments.  Ben was recently appointed as the new Artistic Director of the Bellevue Chamber Chorus. 

Before moving to Washington, Ben was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Monmouth College and also served as faculty at Grinnell College.  Ben is known in Madison, Wisconsin for several of his startup organizations: he was the co-founder and director of Voces Aestatis, a Wisconsin-based professional choir that specialized in the a cappella repertoire of the sixteenth century. Likewise, Ben was the founder and artistic director of Madison Summer Choir, a community chorus that performed large orchestral works.  Ben completed his Masters of Arts in choral conducting at the University of Iowa where he studied with Dr. Timothy Stalter, and he holds a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.  He lives in Seattle with his wife, Vanessa, and their two dogs, Luthor and Oona.

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