James Wolter currently serves as Director of Music at Sydenstricker United Methodist Church in Springfield, VA. Recently, he has held many roles in higher education: visiting lecturer at Cornell University for choral musicianship skills, adjunct professor at Syracuse University, Setnor School of Music teaching basic conducting, and director of the Hobart and William Smith Colleges’ Community Chorus.

During his seven years teaching in the public schools (St. Francis, MN and Fargo, ND), Wolter’s colleagues presented him with the Outstanding Choral Director of the Year at the 2014 North Dakota American Choral Directors Association Conference. Wolter’s students routinely made the middle school and senior high All-State Choirs. Students earned multiple superior ratings at the state solo/ensemble contest including the 2015 Best Performance Award at the North Dakota High School Class A State Competition with members of the non-auditioned 9th Grade Davies Treble Choir.

Wolter has directed past honor choirs including the North Dakota Surround the State in Song (2015, 2019), and the Middle School Honor Choirs of Tompkins County, NY (2018) and Rockland County, NY (2022). He also served as a clinician for the North Dakota State University's Women's Choral Festival in 2013 and 2014.

As a vocalist, he sang with Voices, the professional choral ensemble in Rochester, NY. He also has sung numerous solos with the semi-professional Fargo-Moorhead Choral Artists as well as the tenor soloist in Bach’s Christ lag in Todesbanden, BWV 4, for the Ithaca College Madrigal Singers.

As a graduate of Concordia College, he sang in the Concordia Choir under Dr. René Clausen where he recorded with the King’s Singers. In 2018, he earned his MM in Choral Conducting at Ithaca College under the tutelage of Dr. Janet Galván. During his doctoral work at Eastman with Dr. William Weinert, he was a finalist for the prestigious graduate teaching award as well as nominated for the Graue Award for excellence in research in the field of musicology. Both he and his husband, having finished their terminal degrees, currently enjoy staying active in the DC area.