Friday, April 12 | 10-11 am : City Choir + NSO Sound Health Friday
Join us FRIDAY, APRIL 12 at STUDIO F of The REACH for a pre-concert interactive event focusing on singing and wellness!
Come enjoy some pre-concert entertainment and sing along with members of the City Choir of Washington.
Scroll down to meet Friday morning’s artists.
Singing is good for your health! Have your morning coffee in the uplifting atmosphere of The Reach and join the City Choir of Washington, Erin Freeman, Artistic Director, for an engaging exploration of some of the themes from and inspirations for Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, “From the New World.”
City Choir Assistant Conductor Katie Jagielski will lead singers from City Choir in a brief performance, and through song—including audience singalongs—she will introduce some of the “New World” musical styles that inspired Dvořák, as well and some the ways this very popular symphony has contributed to American music. Come early to the concert to learn, connect, listen, and even do a bit of singing! Then, head over to the concert hall to hear the NSO’s performance of Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9, plus music by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor (Ballade for Orchestra Op. 33) and Billy Childs (Saxophone Concerto).
City Choir is thrilled to partner with the NSO in this innovative program, part of the NSO’s Sound Health Fridays initiative.
Please click HERE to learn more and register for the free morning sing.
Katie Jagielski is director of The City Singers, City Choir's engagement ensemble and Assistant Conductor of the City Choir of Washington. She earned her Bachelor’s of Music Education from Shenandoah University and her Master’s of Music in Vocal Pedagogy from The Catholic University of America. Since 2005, Katie has worked in the area actively as a singer 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, and is currently in her eighth year as the Choral Director at Trailside Middle School with Loudoun County Public Schools. Katie has served as the music director for many theatrical productions in Charles and Loudoun County Public Schools, and has helped to create music for many churches in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area.
Jeff Kempskie is active in the Washington, DC area as a church musician, choral conductor, pianist, organist, and singer. He has served as Director of Music and organist at St. Mark's Episcopal Church, Capitol Hill since 2010, where he directs the Chancel Choir and manages all other aspects of the music program. Mr. Kempskie has been on the faculty of The George Washington University since January 2016 and is the accompanist and assistant conductor for the University Singers. He has directed the Women's Ensemble, coached various chamber ensembles, and accompanied a variety of student recitals. Over the past few years he served as Associate Director of the Reston Chorale and Assistant Music Director for the Cantate Concert Choir. As a singer, Mr. Kempskie has sung with numerous groups including the Cantate Chamber Singers, early music ensemble Chantry, and with the choirs at Washington National Cathedral and St. Paul’s K Street.
Erin Freeman serves in multiple capacities throughout Washington, DC and Virginia, and maintains a national and international presence through guest conducting engagements. Erin will be on the road conducting a performance with The Washington Ballet in Minneapolis this Friday. Erin is Artistic Director of the City Choir of Washington and Wintergreen Music, Resident Conductor of the Richmond Ballet, and Director of Choral Studies at the Corcoran School of Art and Design. She led the Richmond Symphony Chorus for 15 years and was also Associate Conductor from 2007-2014. Guest conducting includes the New York City Ballet, the Washington Ballet, Buffalo Philharmonic, Neglia Ballet, Orchestra Symphonique Bel’Arte, South Carolina Philharmonic, Savannah Philharmonic, and the Detroit, Toledo, Portland, Charlottesville, Virginia, and Williamsburg Symphony Orchestras. She has conducted at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Boston Symphony Hall, and La Madeleine in Paris, and was recently named nominee (2021) and finalist (2019) for Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year. Freeman holds degrees from Northwestern University, Boston University, and Peabody Conservatory. In 2023-24 Erin is leading ensembles at Wolf Trap, London’s Cadogan Hall, and Vienna’s Musikverein, in addition to several locations in the Nation’s capital.
