The Choralis Foundation Board of Directors and Artistic Director Gretchen Kuhrmann have chosen Maestro Robert Shafer, artistic director of The City Choir of Washington, as the winner of the second annual Greater Washington, D.C. Area Choral Excellence Award, which is given to a person or organization that has made significant lifetime contributions to the art of choral singing in the greater D.C. metropolitan area.

The Choralis Foundation Board of Directors and Artistic Director Gretchen Kuhrmann have chosen Maestro Robert Shafer, artistic director of The City Choir of Washington, as the winner of the second annual Greater Washington, D.C. Area Choral Excellence Award, which is given to a person or organization that has made significant lifetime contributions to the art of choral singing in the greater D.C. metropolitan area.

The board also is announcing the creation of several new award categories for which nominees will be solicited and winners chosen by a Blue Ribbon panel of local choral experts.

The Choralis Foundation will present the awards at a gala dinner and awards ceremony on June 1, 2011, at the Clarendon Ballroom in Arlington. Last year’s event at the same venue drew choral leaders and aficionados from more than 14 area choruses.