UN Singers - Executive Committee
Get to know our Conductor and Executive Committee.
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
Carmela Zenarosa
President
Carmela Zenarosa is a UN Secretariat staff member
with the Department of Operational Support.
Born in the Philippines, she has been a member of the UN Singers since 2017, singing with the Soprano Section.
She has always been part of the school choirs
from elementary to high school, and at her college.
She loves singing in groups and she finds singing with UN choir, at practices and concerts, a very fulfilling experience.
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.
Alina Escobar
Wardrobe Officer
Alina Escobar has been a member of the UN Singers since 2019 and is part of the Alto section.
She is a UNDP staff member, working with the Office of Human Resources in New York. Alina has always enjoyed art in general, and has been singing in choirs since her early childhood, both at school and at church in her home country, Guatemala.
She took private singing classes for some years and was delighted to join the UN Singers upon her relocation to New York.
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.