Music
Mary Katherine Kilgore
Director of Music Ministries
and Music Director of St. James School
Director of Music Ministries, Mary Katherine Kilgore leads the Adult Choir which sings each Sunday throughout the year for the 10:30am worship service. They also prepare special music for Advent, Christmas Eve, Epiphany, Easter and occasionally an Evensong Service. Mary Katherine also oversees the St. James Concert Series and teaches music classes for all the students in our school here at St. James.
A native of Forsyth, Georgia, Mary Katherine received her Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Valdosta State University with post graduate studies in voice, opera, and choral conducting at Clayton College and State University in Morrow, Georgia, and the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa.
Mary Katherine, a talented and accomplished musician, taught piano and voice privately for over 20 years, and has judged numerous piano, vocal, and choral competitions. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Alabama Chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association between 2014 and 2019. Mary Katherine served as Director of Music for both Fairhope United Methodist and Trinity Presbyterian churches and taught chorus full time at St. Michael Catholic High School during the 2019 - 2021 school years. Prior to moving to the Eastern Shore, she served as Director of Music at Vernon United Methodist Church in Vernon, Alabama and St. Mark United Methodist Church in Northport, Alabama.
Mary Katherine is involved musically in the Eastern Shore community by serving as the Music Director for productions with Eastern Shore Repertory Theater as well as being the Executive Director of the Eastern Shore Choral Society. Mary Katherine was the Artistic Director of the ESCS from 2011 - 2023. The ESCS is a non-auditioned community chorus made up of individuals with varying degrees of musical skill from high school age to the young at heart. In recent years, the ESCS has been invited to sing with other music groups, such as the Mobile Symphony Orchestra and the Baldwin Pops. In June 2018, twenty-seven members of the ESCS had the honor of traveling to New York City to perform Dan Forrest’s amazing Jubilate Deo at Carnegie Hall with choral groups from across the country. In June 2023, twenty-one ladies from ESCS toured in Italy and sang at the Duomo in Orvieto, St. Ignatius in Rome, and for mass at St. Peter's Basilica.
Mary Katherine and her family have lived in Fairhope since 2005.
Joe Setzer
Associate Director of Music and Organist - Children's Choir Leader
Joe Setzer grew up outside Charlotte, NC, with his parents and twin brother, Ben. As a teenager, he especially loved fly fishing in the Appalachian mountains and deer hunting in South Carolina with his dad and brother. He moved to Mobile in May 2021 and worked at St. Luke’s Episcopal Church and School as the Choral Music Director and Organist. At St. Luke’s Church, Joe conducted the Adult and Handbell Choirs while establishing (and conducting) a new Chorister program. He also spearheaded special liturgies including an All Souls’ Evensong, a Martin Luther King, Jr. Evensong, and a Candlemas Compline service. At school he taught music classes for grades 2 - 12, and developed High School and Middle School choirs. He introduced the school and church to the true spirit of Episcopal Church music.
Joe’s past experience includes working as the Associate Director of Choristers at All Saints’ Episcopal Church and Day School in Phoenix, AZ, and as the Fellow in Church Music at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Columbia, SC. These positions provided him with valuable choir training and church music experience.
Mr. Setzer is a summa cum laude graduate of the University of South Carolina, where he earned both a Bachelor of Music and a Master of Music in Organ Performance. Along with playing the organ, Mr. Setzer also studies voice and sings regularly. His former instructors include Dr. Jared Johnson, Dr. Kenneth Miller, and Dr. Katie Ann McCarty in organ, and Dr. Peter Barton and Mr. Jacob Will in voice. Joe also has extensive experience with the Royal School of Church Music summer courses, serving in many capacities at various RSCM summer camps throughout the country. Mr. Setzer has accompanied and chaperoned choirs of all ages on trips throughout the United States and Europe.
In his spare time, Joe enjoys Yoga/Pilates, weightlifting, reading classic literature, and studying languages. His current Duolingo streak is 1,387 days (in Danish). Joe also loves Mobile Mardi Gras!