Personnel

Rev. Craig Goodrich writes: “Brice is a joy to work with, and an absolutely dependable and trustworthy team player and colleague. For twenty years now, Brice has anchored this congregation through ups and downs with his extraordinary gifts of music, leadership and Christian character. Brice has led the choir, designed wonderful Seasons of Music concert series, mentored many talented young singers and musicians, and inspired us all. Thank you Brice Gerlach and here’s to at least twenty more years!”

Brice Gerlach

Director of Music Ministries

Brice has been involved in church music most of his life. After starting piano lessons at age 5, he became interested in studying the organ. At the age of 12, he began organ lessons with Dr. Robert L. Slusser, the Director of Music at La Jolla Presbyterian Church, where his family attended. Throughout his high school years, he studied music and played for church services at his home church. Brice was also involved in his high school music program, playing the clarinet and piano for many choirs and in the jazz band. For his undergraduate degree, he attended the Eastman School of Music, where he studied with Russell Saunders and was awarded the Performers Certificate for excellence in playing. After a one year break, Brice attended Indiana University, where he received a master’s degree in organ performance and a doctorate in choral conducting. While at Indiana, he studied with Larry Smith, a protégé of Russell Saunders, as well as Jan Harrington and Robert Porco for conducting. This is where he met his wife, Michele. In 1994, the couple moved to Naples where Brice was appointed Director of Music at Naples United Church of Christ. After serving that church for seven years, Brice moved to First Presbyterian to become Director of Music. He was especially intrigued by the Ruffatti organ, which was under construction in Italy. Brice and Michele have been very involved in the musical community in Naples. Brice was the organist at Temple Shalom for five years and Michele sang in the choir there. Michele has sung at Trinity by-the-Cove Episcopal Church since 1994 and both Brice and Michele worked with the choruses at Artis—Naples for 25 years, retiring from that work in 2020. They have performed countless concerts and recitals in Naples and the surrounding areas over the last 27 years. In addition to the work at First Presbyterian, Brice teaches organ, conducting and directs the Chamber Choir at Ave Maria University. He was named Artist in Residence at the University in 2019. Brice had a few health scares years ago, surviving stage 4 Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma twice. With the help of great doctors and lots of prayers from his church family, he has been cancer free since 2004. Between Brice’s two bouts with cancer, Michele and Brice had a great blessing: the birth of their son, Colin. He continues to bring great joy to them as he is growing into a fine young man. One of the things that Brice, Michele and Colin enjoy most is travel. They have been to Europe many times to participate in music festivals and usually extend their trips to travel as a family. The Chancel Choir traveled to Switzerland, Scotland and England to attend the International Church Music Festival led by Sir David Willcocks. Also, for many years, Michele was the soprano soloist for the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. Even Colin has performed at the Austrian festival. Brice feels very blessed to be a part of First Presbyterian Church and to be Director of Music. It is more of a calling and a passion than a job. This church has been so supportive of the music program that Brice feels it is a privilege to serve the church these past 20 years and he looks forward to at least 20 more!

On Sunday, May 23 we celebrated not only Pentecost Sunday, but Staff Appreciation Sunday. If you were unable to attend, or have not yet viewed the service, please log on to our website (www.fpchaples.org/ worship) to watch the taped service. When the worship service concluded, we kept the cameras rolling and filmed the Anniversary Celebration honoring the following employees reaching milestones for continuous service to our church.

Ashley Houk, Preschool Director—10 years Sharman Pfaus, Executive Office Manager—10 years

Brice Gerlach, Director of Music Ministries—20 years Sandy Poore, Director of Facilities—40 years