OUR THREE FINALISTS
Dr. Vicki Bell
Dr. Stephen Bolster
Dr. Kirk Rich
FINALIST BIOGRAPHIES​​
Dr. Vicki Bell holds a Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Kentucky. Her research interests are varied, and range from the use of dissonance in the sacred music of G. P. da Palestrina to the notational styles of Shaker music.
Dr. Bell joined the Music Department at Asbury University in the fall of 1993. For thirty years, she served as coordinator of music theory, and taught freshman / sophomore theory classes and upper-level counterpoint / music analysis courses. Additionally, she directed the Asbury University Chorale, the primary SATB choral ensemble at the university. The Chorale presented 6-8 concerts per academic year, and performed with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra in eight major subscription concerts.
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Dr. Bell has led Asbury students and alumni in four international performance tours as well as choral residencies at England’s Gloucester Cathedral and Bristol Cathedral. Highlights of the international tours included performances in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, St. Agapito, Christ Church, Oxford, and Bath Abbey.
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Dr. Bell currently directs ECCO, a chamber choir comprised largely of Asbury alumni. Additionally, she is organist / choirmaster at St. Raphael the Archangel Episcopal Church in Lexington, KY.
Dr. Stephen Bolster taught at Berea College for 39 years. Endowed Professor of Music, he conducted the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, and taught applied voice and other music classes. His music degrees are from Dartmouth College, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Colorado. He led the Berea choirs on annual domestic tours and on international concert tours to the Balkans, central and eastern Europe, and China, performing in many of the world’s prestigious concert halls and cathedrals. The choirs performed on multiple televised Christmas specials, including a Christmas Eve Concert aired nationally on CBS.
Dr. Bolster served two terms as President of KY-ACDA, fifteen years as Chairperson of the Youth and Student Activities Committee, and six years as Southern Division Chair of College and University Choirs. In 2002, he received Kentucky ACDA’s highest honor--the Robert K. Baar Choral Excellence Award--for his service to the organization and dedication to choral music education.
KMEA named Bolster the 1999-2000 College-University Teacher of the Year. A Berea College Honorary Alumnus, he received numerous teaching and academic awards there, including Berea’s highest faculty honor-- the Seabury Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Bolster is in demand as a lecturer, clinician, and adjudicator. An expert on acoustical phonetics, he has presented lectures on this topic to professional music organizations and at colleges and universities.
Dr. Kirk M. Rich is the Director of Music at St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church in Harrods Creeks (Louisville), where he has served since 2023. In that role, he oversees every aspect of the musical life of the parish, conducting choirs of adults and treble choristers, coordinating a concert series, and managing a staff of fifteen. July 2025 marks the St. Francis Parish Choir’s first European tour, with performances in Paris and a weeklong residency at Lincoln Cathedral in the UK.
As an organist, Kirk has performed across the US in venues such as the Kennedy Center (Washington, D. C.), St. Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue (New York City), and for three national conventions of the American Guild of Organists. A laureate of several organ competitions, he was twice a prize-winning finalist in the American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance. His performances have been broadcast nationally on American Public Media’s Pipedreams program. Kirk is frequently sought after as a choral accompanist, having played multiple cathedral residencies in England and Ireland, including two with the Royal School of Church Music - America’s National Choir under the direction of Bruce Neswick.
Prior to Louisville, Kirk served as Director of Music at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Atlanta. He sang (tenor) in the all-auditioned Atlanta Master Chorale and served as Visiting Conductor at Oglethorpe University in Brookhaven. He holds degrees in organ performance from the Oberlin College Conservatory, the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, and a doctorate from the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. A native Kentuckian, Kirk is married to Laura Reksc Rich, a college counselor, and they enjoy the company of their two Pomeranians, Gerre and Miss Nugget.