James D. Wetzel has been appointed director of music and organist of the Parish of St. Vincent Ferrer and St. Catherine of Siena in Manhattan, where he directs the professional Schola Cantorum and the volunteer Parish Choir and plays for all services. A board member of the New York City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and the Catholic Artists Society, he will also continue as assistant conductor of the Greenwich Choral Society in Connecticut and as assisting organist of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine. Wetzel previously served as organist and choirmaster of Midtown’s Church of St. Agnes and as an adjunct lecturer in music at Hunter College.
Wetzel earned a bachelor of music degree in organ from the Juilliard School under Paul Jacobs and a master of music degree and a professional studies certificate in choral conducting from Manhattan School of Music under Kent Tritle. He also spent a year studying early Christianity and apologetics at Columbia University. In his hometown of Pittsburgh, he studied privately with Donald K. Fellows and Robert Page.
