Chorus and Leadership
The City Choir of Washington
Now entering its twentieth season, the City Choir of Washington is a member-driven choral community that performs throughout the Washington region and beyond. Our diverse group of more than 140 all-volunteer singers ranges in age from 20-something to 80-something, and includes DC natives as well as those who hail from throughout North and South America, Europe, and Asia. All share a passion for choral music.
In pursuing our Mission, Vision, and Values, we seek to inspire audiences and performers totranscend all external divisions and concerns, and find joy in the shared experience of collaborative artistic expression.
After fifteen successful seasons under the baton of renowned conductor Robert Shafer, we welcomed Artistic Director Erin Freeman, who now begins her fifth season at the helm.
Among our particularly memorable recent concerts are performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana in Richmond and at Wolf Trap with the Richmond Ballet and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra and Chorus; a performance in São Paulo, Brazil of Beethoven’s Mass in C Major with the Mozarteum Brasileiro Orchestra, under the baton of Maestra Freeman; and a thrilling performance of J.S. Bach’s monumental Mass in B Minor to conclude our 2025–26 season.
Artistic Director Erin Freeman
Versatile, engaging, and spirited, Erin Freeman is the Artistic Director of the City Choir of Washington, Director of the Saint Louis Symphony Chorus, Artistic Director of Wintergreen Music, and Principal Conductor of the Richmond Ballet, the State Ballet of Virginia. She previously had successful tenures as Director of the award-winning Richmond Symphony Chorus and Director of Choral Activities at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Her guest conducting engagements have included the New York City Ballet, Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra, Detroit Symphony and numerous other ensembles, and she has conducted at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Boston Symphony Hall, La Madeleine in Paris, the Kennedy Center, and beyond, and has led and/or prepared the Richmond Symphony Chorus for multiple recordings, including the GRAMMY-nominated release of Mason Bates’ Children of Adam.
She has been a finalist for Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year, and has been named one of Virginia Lawyers Weekly’s “50 Most Influential Women in Virginia” and an “Extraordinary Woman Leader” by the VCU School of Business. She holds degrees from Northwestern University (BMus), Boston University (MM), and Peabody Conservatory (DMA). For more information, visit www.erinrfreeman.com.
Assistant Conductor Kathleen Jagielski
Kathleen Jagielski is assistant conductor of the City Choir of Washington, and director of the City Singers, the City Choir of Washington’s engagement ensemble. She earned her Bachelor’s of Music Education degree from Shenandoah University and her Master’s of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from the Catholic University of America.
Since 2005, she has worked actively in the area as a vocalist and teacher and has directed choruses and vocal ensembles for Anne Arundel County Public Schools, Barbara Ingram School for the Arts, and Charles County Public Schools. She is currently in her twelfth year at Trailside Middle School with Loudoun County Public Schools.
A past choral director for Our Savior’s Way Lutheran Church in Ashburn, Virginia, she has helped to create music for many churches in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area and was. She has served as the music director for many theatrical productions in Charles and Loudoun County Public Schools, and is an active member of the National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association.
Keyboard Artist Heather Adelsberger
Heather Adelsberger maintains an active career as a keyboard artist and conductor in the Washington, D.C. area. She holds an undergraduate degree in Piano Performance from the Catholic University of America, and a Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from the University of Maryland. She is the Artistic Director of the Georgetown Chorale, and Director of Music Ministries at Grace Episcopal Church in Silver Spring, MD, where she oversees a vibrant, intergenerational music program and concert series. Heather has served as keyboard artist for the City Choir since 2025.
Board of Directors
The members of the City Choir Board of Directors are all current singers, elected by the chorus at its Annual Meeting for one-year terms.
L. Robert Barnes
Peter Bonner, Treasurer
Charles Clark, Vice President
John Clewett
David Flaxman, President
Erin Freeman, Artistic Director (ex officio)
Jenny Gerbi
Ed Grossman, Secretary
Dan Hinderliter
Martin McFadden
Jessie Robbins
Ann Roddy
Ann Stahmer
Rachel Tester
Lejerian Williams
Staff/Chorus Officers
Erin Freeman, Artistic Director;
Kathleen Jagielski, Assistant Conductor and Director of the City Singers
Heather Adelsberger, Keyboard Artist
Zain Shariff, Operations Director
Emmilu Olson, Chorus Manager
Mira Agneshwar, Coordinator of Patron Engagement
Anna Balchunas Luellen, Chorus President
Shaandro Sarkar, Chorus Vice President
Artistic Director Emeritus Robert Shafer
Robert Shafer, one of America’s major choral conductors, served as Artistic Director of the City Choir of Washington for its first fifteen years, after leading the Washington Chorus for over 35 years, where he won a GRAMMY for Best Choral Performance for a live concert recording of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem. He has prepared choruses for many of the world’s leading conductors, including Sir Neville Marriner, Seiji Ozawa, and Mstislav Rostropovich, and led numerous European concert tours, most recently to England in July 2018 with the City Choir of Washington.
A student of the distinguished Nadia Boulanger, in 1969 he won first prize in composition at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France, and his works have been performed throughout the U.S. and Europe. He served as Artist-in-Residence and professor of music at the Conservatory of Music of Shenandoah University in Winchester, Virginia, from 1983 until his retirement in 2016. In 1989, he was honored by the Virginia Council on Higher Education with an Outstanding Faculty Award for his public service, research, and teaching, the first teacher in the arts to receive this award. In July 2022, he retired from the City Choir, and is now our Artistic Director Emeritus.