Stan Engebretson – Artistic Director of the National Philharmonic Chorale and Head of Choral Music at George Mason University
Stan Engebretson has conducted and taught throughout the United States and in Europe, and has studied with great masters of choral music, including Robert Shaw, Gregg Smith, Richard Westenburg, Roger Wagner, and Eric Ericson. A North Dakota native, he received his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Piano and Voice from the University of North Dakota, and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Conducting from Stanford University. He has led choirs in Venice’s Cathedral or St. Mark and taught in Cologne, Trier, St. Moritz, Barcelona, and Reykjavik. Engebretson is Director of Music at the historic New York Avenue Presbyterian Church; Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at George Mason University; and for 14 years has shaped the ensemble that is now the National Philharmonic Chorale. Engebretson is also proficient and performs in the jazz medium.

Molly Donnelly – Mezzo Soprano and Professor of Music at Montgomery College
Molly Donnelly has sung in major concert halls in New York, Paris, Berlin, London and Washington, DC, performing as a soloist with Musica Sacra, the Oratorio Society of New York, the National Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic and many others. Of her title role in the North American premiere of Handel’s Tolomeo, New Yorker music critic wrote: “Her voice has character-an elusive quality, God-given, not acquirable, that makes people listen.” A Fulbright Scholar, Donnelly holds a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland; a Master of Music from the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati; and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Colorado. At Montgomery College since 1997, she directs the Chamber Singers and the College Chorus and can share her love of singing by teaching voice. .

Ronald P. Frezzo - Vocal and International Baccalaureate Music Instructor, Richard Montgomery High School
Ronald Frezzo has taught in the Montgomery County Public Schools for 24 years, preceded by 11 years at Archbishop Carroll High School, DC. Mr. Frezzo holds the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music in Choral Conducting from The Catholic University of America, and has been Director of Sacred Music for 32 years at Little Flower Catholic Church in Bethesda, Maryland. He is a teacher-trainer in music for the International Baccalaureate program and has given more than 35 workshops over the past 14 years in the US, Canada, and Europe. He was the Montgomery County recipient of the Agnes Meyer Outstanding Educator Award awarded by the Washington Post for the academic year 1999-2000 and was named Music Teacher of the Year for 2010 by the Maryland Music Educators Association.

Theodore Guerrant – Organist-Choirmaster at St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, accompanist for the Central Maryland Chorale and the National Philharmonic Chorale and Accompanying Program Specialist in the University of Maryland School of Music
Guerrant began his piano studies with Regina Pudney at age five and began organ lessons with Frank Willingham at age eleven. By the time he was a high school senior, he was accompanying four choral groups and five church services. He went on to receive degrees in piano, organ, and harpsichord, as well as a graduate performance Diploma in Organ from the Peabody Conservatory.

Victoria Gau – Assistant Conductor of the National Philharmonic, Artistic Director of the Capital City Symphony and Adjunct Associate Professor of Opera at George Mason University
Victoria Gau is a familiar face in the Washington area, having conducted such groups as the Washington Savoyards, the IN-Series, the Other Opera Company (which she co-founded), and the Friday Morning Music Club Orchestra. She has had past conducting positions with the Richmond Philharmonic and the Akron Symphony, and has worked as a pianist for Cleveland, Baltimore, Annapolis and Washington Operas. Ms. Gau is an established vocal coach in the Washington area, having worked for many years with the Crittendon Opera Studio. She holds degrees in Viola Performance and Conducting from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she received the Phi Kappa Lambda Prize for Musicianship.