James D. Wetzel

James D. Wetzel is the director of music and organist of the Parish of Saint Vincent Ferrer and Saint Catherine of Siena. He formerly served as the organist and choirmaster of midtown’s Church of Saint Agnes and as organ scholar of the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, where he continues as an assisting organist. Since 2010, James has also been the assistant conductor for the Greenwich Choral Society in Connecticut and from 2011-2016 taught as an adjunct lecturer in Hunter College’s music department. Active as an organist and continuo player, he has performed with the American Symphony Orchestra, the American Classical Orchestra, the Collegiate Chorale, the Oratorio Society of New York, and the Orchestra of Saint Luke’s. He is on the board of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Catholic Artists Society, is music advisor to the New York Purgatorial Society, and is a member of the Society for Catholic Liturgy and the Saint Wilfrid’s Club for Organists in Manhattan.

Born in Pittsburgh, James earned a bachelor’s degree in organ performance from The Juilliard School where he studied with Paul Jacobs and was the first person to graduate with a master’s degree and a professional studies certificate in choral conducting from Manhattan School of Music under Kent Tritle. He also studied privately with Donald K. Fellows and Robert Page and spent a year reading Early Christianity and Apologetics at Columbia University.