UN Singers - Executive Committee

Get to know our Conductor and Executive Committee. 

Guillermo Vaisman  Music Director and Conductor

Guillermo Vaisman
Music Director and Conductor

Maestro Guillermo Vaisman was appointed Music Director of the UNSCR Singers in 2004. 
He is also Musical Director of Cappella Sur and Music Director at Saint Peter's Lutheran Church in NYC.
He is invited regularly as an accompanist with the Tarumi Violinists, both in the US and Japan. 
In 2012 he conducted the UN Singers in performances with the Japanese singer and songwriter Tokiko Kato at Carnegie Hall (NYC) and in Hiroshima, Japan. 
Apart from his choral activities, Guillermo (born in Argentina) is an active musician in the New York Tango scene, regularly performing at the Summer Tango Festival in Central Park and
at venues throughout the city.

More info at vaisman.nyc 


Paula Serrano
President

Paula Serrano is a UN Secretariat staff member, working as a translator at the Department of General Assembly and Conference Management, Spanish Translation Service.

Born in Argentina, she has been a member of the UN Singers since 2022, singing with the Soprano Section.  

Aside from her choir participation, she has a solo career as a singer of Argentine tango and folkloric music. 

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Nicole Hunt
Vice President

Nicole Hunt works as Senior Statistics Assistant at United Nations Secretariat.

She sang in several choirs in her native Trinidad and Tobago before relocating to NY in 2008 and joined the UNSRC Singers in 2016. 

Nicole is part of the Soprano section.



Maria Farrugia
Public Relations Officer

Maria Farrugia is a UN Secretariat staff member, working with the Office of Internal Oversight Services in New York.

Maria has been a member of the UN Singers since 2020 and is part of the Soprano section.  

Maria has always enjoyed music. She took piano classes during her school years and sang in a school choir in her home country, Slovakia. She also sang in a choir in Luxembourg before relocating to New York.


Kelli-Ann Kerr
Personnel Officer

Trinidad & Tobago-born, Kelli-Ann Kerr joined the UNSRC Singers in 2017, after indulging her cousin’s (Nicole Hunt) invitations to attend the Singers’ concerts. She is part of the Soprano section.

She studied music in her native country for more than 12 years before giving it up to study Art in the U.S.

A librarian, she works in New York City for a consulting firm. 


Maya Hamade
Wardrobe Officer

Maya Hamade is a United Nations Secretariat staff member.

She has been a member of the UN Singers since 2025, singing in the Soprano section.

Maya has been singing in choirs since middle school and has been a member of various choirs in many countries including Kuwait, the United Kingdom, Lebanon, the Netherlands, and the United States. 


Joshua Kneidl
Librarian

Joshua Kneidl is a UN Secretariat staff member, working as an Information Systems Officer in New York.  He joined the UN Singers in 2023, as a proud member of the understaffed (at the time) Bass section. 

He came to singing later in life than many, discovering a passion for it in 2022 after checking out a book from the library (appropriately) and experimenting with what his voice could do.  He has been a member of one other choir before joining the UN Singers and eventually serving as the Librarian. 

He loves being part of a group of people dedicated to music and singing and appreciates how music can bring people of all ages and nationalities together as one.  A fascinating fact he read about:  when people sing together, eventually their heart beats end up synchronizing!  Singing together literally joins people in heart.