MCCO Artistic Staff
Louise Gerdelmann
Associate Artistic Director and Conductor
Louise Gerdelmann served as Minister of Music at Gwynedd Square Presbyterian Church, where she conducted a 30-voice adult choir, two children’s choirs, an Orff ensemble, high school ensemble, and an inter-generational concert band. She provided organ music for all services. Louise taught elementary vocal music in North Penn, Pennridge, and Methacton School Districts.
Recently, Louise served as a member of the music staff at Doylestown Presbyterian Church. During her time at Doylestown she conducted the Alleluia Choir, assisted in the direction of the yearly children’s musical, served on faculty for the Summer Music and Arts Camp, and assisted in the planning of the Lessons and Carols Service and Spring concerts.
A graduate of West Chester University, she pursued graduate work at the University of the Arts and Westminster Choir College. During her career, she was named a semi-finalist in the State Teacher of the Year Award program and received a Citation of Excellence Award from the PA State Senate upon her retirement from Methacton.
Currently she teaches private piano and is a substitute organist in many area churches. Louise is a member of the board of directors for Lansdale Community Concerts and serves as their Campaign/Membership Chair.
Erik Meyer
Collaborative Pianist
Erik Meyer was raised in Collingswood, NJ, where he began his organ studies at thirteen, studying with the Rev. J. Bert Carlson. Erik earned a BM in 2000 and an MM in organ performance in 2004 from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, Baltimore, where he studied with Donald Sutherland. He was a semifinalist in the highly competitive 2006, 2008 and 2012 National Young Artist Competition in Organ Performance. He has performed over one hundred recitals throughout the world and often performs organ-flute duo recitals with his wife, Anna. Their ensemble, the AEMeyer Duo is managed by Seven Eight Artists.
Erik currently serves as Organist at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral. Previously he served as organist at Abington Presbyterian Church and was the Minister of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Salem, NJ, where he oversaw the music program and semi-professional choir. Erik is adjunct faculty at Temple University, teaching a variety of courses in the Music Studies Department as well as introductory music courses for amateur enthusiasts and lifelong learners. Erik has also served as Director of Music at Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, Philadelphia and Cantor at Luther Memorial Church, Erie, PA, where he also served as Artistic Director of the Luther Memorial Concert Series and founder of the Luther Memorial Bach Festival. He served as music director at the 2008, 2010, and 2011 ELCA NWPA Synod Conventions, and as organist for the Episcopal Cathedral of St. Paul, Erie, on their choir tours of Europe in 2007 and 2010.
He was previously adjunct faculty at Mercyhurst College, Erie, where he taught theory, ear training, and organ. He served as the dean of the Erie American Guild of Organists from 2009-2011. Augsburg Fortress, St. James Press, and Falls House Press publish his music.
Michael Kemp
Founder
Michael’s inherited musical legacy from parents, John and Helen Kemp, took him on a path of voice and viola performance, conducting, and composing and writing. In addition to institutional education at Oklahoma University, Westminster Choir College, and the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague, Holland, Michael also studied privately with renowned choral authorities Paul Salamunovich, Philip Brunelle, and Alice Parker, with extensive summer study with Robert Shaw.
Prior to fourteen years of teaching Upper School music at Germantown Academy, PA, Michael served as Director of Music Ministries of Abington Presbyterian Church in Abington, PA, after holding other significant church music positions in Nashville, TN and Arlington, TX. While in Texas, he also founded and conducted the Arlington Choral Society, which critics placed “on the top rung of choral music in the Dallas Metroplex.” During that time he was a choral and church music lecturer at SMU’s Perkins School of Theology.
Recognized for his exceptional ability to build programs, Michael founded and built from ground level many successful ensembles, including four church youth choirs and two high school choirs, two adult community choruses, and one adult community symphony orchestra, in addition to expanding and enhancing existing ensembles. Michael trained choral conductors throughout Jamaica, and his choirs toured internationally to the U.K., Austria, and Poland.
After Michael was diagnosed with ALS in 2019, he retired from conducting the two adult ensembles that he founded, the Academy Chorale and Orchestra (now known as the Montgomery County Chorale and Orchestra), as well as his position as music director at Trinity Presbyterian Church in Berwyn, PA. The last two years of his life were spent composing choral works, writing more books, and finishing his memoirs. Michael passed away in July 2021.
