Ben Luedcke began as Artistic Director of the Bellevue Chamber Chorus in 2019, and he brings a variety of conducting and leadership experiences to the organization. Ben is the Minister of Music at Seattle First Baptist Church in downtown Seattle, and the Artistic Director of the Masterworks Choral Ensemble in Olympia. He is currently finishing his Doctorate of Musical Arts in choral conducting at University of Washington, and he has held teaching positions at UW in the Choral, Musicology, and English departments.

Hailing from the Midwest, Ben completed a Bachelor of Music Education at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, and he left a mark on that choral community as both a voice teacher and as the conductor and founder of several startup organizations. Ben 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, as well as the director and singer in two early music chamber ensembles, Half and Half and Musica Apéritif.  For ten years Ben was the founder and artistic director of Madison Summer Choir, a large community chorus that performed choral orchestral works. Finally, Ben was the conductor and co-founder of the University of Wisconsin Men’s Choir, a student and community tenor/bass ensemble.

Ben completed his Master’s in Choral Conducting at University of Iowa, and subsequently served as faculty at Grinnell College, where he taught voice and conducted both the Grinnell Singers and the Grinnell Oratorio Society. Additionally, Ben served as a Visiting Assistant Professor at Monmouth College where he taught voice and conducted the Monmouth Chorale and chamber choir. 

When not making music, Ben is most often hiking with his dog, and otherwise exploring Washington’s many amazing trails, trying new craft beers, and binging good science fiction.

After an exciting 2023-2024 season performing with the Bellevue Chamber Chorus, Imran Goychayev is now an assistant conductor in his second season with the chorus. Imran holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music with a focus in orchestra conducting and composition from Western Washington University as well as an Associate of Arts and Sciences with Concentration in Music degree from Bellevue College.

Fueled by his education and love for music, Imran’s music experience includes conducting musicals, such as “Evita”, and leading sectionals and rehearsals with numerous vocal and choral groups in Los Angeles.

While in Los Angeles, Imran founded an orchestra ensemble while he was employed at The Walt Disney Company where he led and conducted orchestra rehearsals. As an accomplished composer and audio producer, Imran was selected as a semi-finalist at ISC (International Songwriting Competition) in 2019 and 2020, and in 2021 Imran’s music tracks got selected and added to the Universal Production Music Catalog that provides music for Film and TV syncs globally.

Cori Belle is beginning her first season with Bellevue Chamber Chorus, although she has been a “friend of the chorus” for many years. Cori is a frequent recitalist and collaborator. Her work includes world premieres across the United States, musical theater directing, and 30+ years of choral accompanying. Cori is the founding artistic director of Indie Musikhaus: house concerts for Seattle musicians. Her self-produced solo album, Commonplace Beauty, received critical acclaim – “a beautifully constructed programme” by International Piano. Cori earned her Piano Performance degree from Grand Canyon University with additional studies at AIMS in Graz, Austria, and holds a teaching certificate from the University of Washington. Cori lives in Bothell with her husband and daughters, and maintains a private teaching studio.

All of us at the Bellevue Chamber Chorus mourn the untimely passing of Kristine Anderson, who was our beloved accompanist for nearly 14 years. Kristine didn’t just play the notes written on the piano score, she breathed magic into our performances and made all of us better. She infused the music with her passion and her boundless joie d’vivre, and both we and our audiences were the better for it!

Her performances weren’t just competent and virtuosic, they were works of passion and often brought tears to our eyes. We will never, ever forget her sparkle, her kind and generous heart, her incredibly quick wit, her energy and passion, and her unwavering dedication to being an absolutely wonderful, accomplished accompanist for our choral offerings. Rest in peace, Kristine!   ~~ Bellevue Chamber Chorus

Kristine Anderson, pianist, graduated with a music performance degree from the University of Montana at Missoula. She was well-known in the Puget Sound region for her artistic and sensitive work with singers as well as instrumentalists ranging from tuba to piccolo. Equally at home with jazz, pop, and classical, she could adjust her style from Sondheim to Gershwin to Strauss. Her clients included winners in local and national competitions, including the Seattle Young Artist Music Festival, Metropolitan Opera semifinals, and concerto contests. Kristine also served as accompanist for the Flute and Piccolo Forum, hosted by Seattle Symphony flutist Zart Dombourian Eby. From 2012 to 2020 she was a staff accompanist in the University of Washington Music Department, and she was the accompanist for Bellevue Chamber Chorus for fourteen seasons, including during the pandemic where she gamely created accompaniment tracks for the Chorus’ “virtual choir” season from her living room! She was also the pianist at Christ the King, Assumption, and Journey Christian churches in Seattle.