Gretchen Kuhrmann is the Founder and Vision for Choralis. A true advocate for choral music in all schools and communities, she has spent her career honing choral ensembles into musically sensitive performers and encouraging young singers to develop their skills. She founded and has developed a very successful summer choral program for exceptional high school students, where they can receive individual instruction and coaching in voice, accompanying or conducting. The students also spend the week learning a major choral work and rehearsing along side the adults in Choralis. Here they are able to experience a fast paced, broad spectrum rehearsal setting with more mature voices, which provide healthy vocal examples for the younger singers and expose them to repertoire which is generally inaccessible to the average curriculum. A concert of the major work is given at the end of the week as the students join with Choralis and full, professional orchestra and soloists. Ms Kuhrmann makes a deliberate point of hiring the players and soloists from the bounty of young, exceptional players and singers in the Washington Metro area, who are also looking to further their skills, experience and careers.

The daughter of a diplomat, Ms. Kuhrmann traveled and lived around the world before her family settled for an extended stay in Hamburg, Germany, where she spent her formative years. Before leaving Europe, she toured and performed with her own ensemble throughout Western Europe. Ms Kuhrmann has had extended study at the Hamburg Conservatory, the University of Cincinnati College – Conservatory of Music and the University of Texas School of Music. She holds performance degrees in conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and George Mason University. After graduation from George Mason, Ms. Kuhrmann was retained for two years to conduct the University Chamber Singers and the Symphonic Chorus. Under her direction, the University Chamber Singers were invited to appear at the American Choral Director's Association National Convention when it was held in Washington D.C. She spent six seasons as the Associate Conductor for the Masterworks Chorus & Orchestra and founded their critically acclaimed ensemble, The National Chamber Singers, from which her own ensemble, Echos, was later formed. She has worked with Gregg Smith, Helmut Rilling, Bobby McFarrin and André Thomas, among others and is a member of the American Choral Director's Association, the International Federation of Choral Music and Chorus America. She is an active guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator and singer throughout the United States.

Both Choralis and Echos have been recognized for their musical excellence by audiences and critics alike. Ms. Kuhrmann's detailed preparation and skillful conducting have earned them acclaim in reviews throughout the Washington Metro Area and the Eastern United States. Her ensembles have appeared in concert in such prestigious venues as the White House, the National Building Museum, the National Shrine, Strathmore, Washington National Cathedral and the Kennedy Center. She has prepared choruses for the Cathedral Choral Society, the National Symphony Orchestra and many area diplomatic and political events. Ms Kuhrmann is also the Director of Music of a very vibrant and celebrated program at the historic Falls Church Presbyterian Church.