Richard Sowers, retired, is the former Director of Music Ministries for Williamsburg UMC in Virginia, Southern Hills UMC in Lexington, KY and Christ Episcopal Church in Bowling Green, KY. While working in VA he also founded the Williamsburg Bach Choir and Handel Chamber Orchestra. He's the former Music Director and Conductor of the Abington Symphony Orchestra where he served as Director of Music Ministries for Abington Presbyterian Church outside Philadelphia. During his tenure as Director of Choral Activities at Lindsey Wilson College, he was also Music Director of The Louisville Chorus and founder of the Columbia Choral Society. He has appeared frequently with Kentucky Opera Association, and was an Associate and Artistic Director for regional opera companies throughout the U.S. A featured singer and actor, Sowers has performed with Actor's Theatre of Louisville, on WHAS-TV, and with the Louisville Bach Society. He was the 1st-place winner of the Metropolitan Opera Auditions and for 4 seasons performed the title role in “The Stephen Foster Story” in Bardstown, KY and Tokyo, Japan. He holds applied music degrees from the University of Louisville Music School, sang with the prestigious Indiana University Opera Theater as an adjunct instructor, and completed doctoral studies as a graduate assistant in conducting at the University of Cincinnati (CCM). Sowers attributes his deep love of Bach to his teacher-mentors Fletcher Smith, Gerhard Herz, Melvin Dickinson, Alan Harler, Julius Herford, John Alexander, Gary Kendall, John Wustman, Robert Shaw, Elmer Thomas, John Lehman, Earl Rivers and Maestro Teri Murai.