Kirk Michael Rich is a multifaceted keyboard artist and conductor whose performances have taken him across the United States to venues including the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, D. C.), St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue (New York), and three national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. A laureate of several competitions, he was a prize-winning finalist in the AGO National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance (2014 and 2016), the William C. Hall Competition, the Schoenstein Competition in the Art of Organ Accompaniment, and the Quimby Competition. His playing has been heard nationally on Pipedreams (American Public Media).

 An active collaborative musician, Kirk has toured internationally, accompanying the Royal School of Church Music America National Choir’s cathedral residencies at St. Patrick’s, Dublin, St. Albans, and Salisbury. He has accompanied the Grammy Award-winning Houston Chamber Choir, the Atlanta Master Chorale, and the Houston Symphony Chorus. An avid continuo player, Kirk has performed as organist and harpsichordist with Bach Society Houston, Mercury: The Orchestra Redefined, the Chamber Orchestra of Louisville, the Derby City Chamber Music Festival, and the Louisville Master Chorale, for whom he serves as staff Collaborative Keyboardist. Since 2024, he has served as staff collaborative pianist at the University of Louisville School of Music.

Since August 2023, Kirk has served as Director of Music at St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church, Louisville, where he recently led the Parish Choir on its first international tour, including performances in Paris and a week’s residency at Lincoln Cathedral. Previously, he was Director of Music at All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Atlanta. His former choral scholars and staff singers have matriculated from institutions and programs including: Yale School of Music (Opera) and Institute of Sacred Music, Emory University, the Peabody Institute, and VOCES8 Scholars (US). Kirk has served as Visiting Conductor at Oglethorpe University, and he is a regular faculty teacher for the Oberlin Conservatory High School Summer Organ Academy.

Kirk holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory, Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. His organ teachers include James David Christie, Christopher Young, and Robert Bates. Additional study has been with Francesco Cera in Italy and Ludger Lohmann in Germany. Choral conducting teachers include Betsy Cook Weber and Charles Hausmann. Kirk holds a Professional Certificate in the Lister-Sink Method of Injury-Preventive Keyboard Technique from Salem College, studying piano with Barbara Lister-Sink.