Dr. Ben Riggs is the Artistic Director of Oakland Gay Men's Chorus (Oakland, CA) and Resound Ensemble (San Francisco, CA). Prior to moving to the Bay Area, Ben was the full-time Artistic Director of Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus, a 160-member volunteer arts organization in Minneapolis, MN. Ben also previously served as the Artistic Director of both the Denver Gay Men’s Chorus and the Boulder Chorale, a 120-voice volunteer mixed chorus in Boulder, CO. An experienced church musician, Ben currently serves as the Minister of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Oakland, and as interim Director of Chapel (2021-22) and adjunct professor of Church Music & Liturgical Singing at Church Divinity School of the Pacific in Berkeley.
Under Ben's direction, Twin Cities Gay Men’s Chorus performed three major concerts each year and appeared at dozens of outreach performances in the Twin Cities metro and across the state of Minnesota. Ben conducted TCGMC in the Upper Midwest premiere of Andrew Lippa's oratorio, I Am Harvey Milk, and commissioned & premiered Two Boys Kissing by composer Joshua Shank, based on the young adult novel by David Levithan. From 2011-2016 Ben served on the Board of Directors of GALA Choruses, an international association of LGBTQIA Choruses. While in Colorado, Ben served as an affiliate faculty member of Regis University, where he conducted the Regis Concert Choir. From 2002-2007, Ben was an adjunct faculty member at the Iliff School of Theology, where he directed the Iliff Choir, assisted in planning community worship, and team-taught a class in Ritual & Worship. In 2009 Ben became a founding member of Firesign Vocal Quartet, a Denver-based professional vocal quartet. Ben has recorded two albums with Firesign: William Byrd & Terry Schlenker: Masses for Four Voices (2011) and Follow We This Joyful Birth (2012). While in Minnesota, Ben performed with The Singers-Minnesota Choral Artists, under the direction of Matthew Culloton. Ben holds a Bachelor of Music in piano from Wheaton College Conservatory of Music, a Master of Music in choral conducting from the University of Colorado-Boulder, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Literature and Performance from the University of Colorado-Boulder. Originally from West Virginia, Ben now lives in Oakland with his husband, The Rev. John F. Dwyer. |