Dr. James R. Rightmyer, Conductor

Dr. James R. Rightmyer is Organist and Choirmaster at St. Francis in the Fields Episcopal Church and Conductor of the Choral Arts Society in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Rightmyer has made music in the church since procuring his first church position at the age of thirteen in Americus, Georgia. Since 1983, Dr. Rightmyer has progressively put St. Francis on the map as a center for quality music making of not only sacred but also classical choral and orchestral repertoire. He received his BMus degree in Piano and Organ from Valdosta State University, and moved to Louisville to pursue his MCM and DMA degrees from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Of the works performed by the Choral Arts Society, these works rank among his favorites: John Adams, Harmonium; Bach, B Minor Mass; Brahms, A German Requiem; Britten, War Requiem; Rachmaninoff, Vespers; Stanford, The Blue Bird; and Vaughan Williams, A Sea Symphony. He is married to Elizabeth Campbell Rightmyer and they have two children, Campbell and Robin.