The Board

Christopher Knoedler was born and raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan. He was a member of Salem Evangelical Lutheran Church, the oldest Lutheran Church in Michigan which was founded by a large population of German immigrants that settled in the area. He began playing the organ in church when he was 12 years old, then in adult life he also became the director of the church’s choir.

    Christopher attended Eastern Michigan University where he had the opportunity to study organ with Dr. Mary Ida Yost and choral music with Prof. Emily Lowe. He had the privilege to tour the UK for four weeks with the EMU Madrigal Singers under the direction of Prof. Lowe.

    Music has been a large part of Christopher’s life from teaching piano lessons and playing the organ for many churches to being the director of several choirs both sacred and secular. Additionally, he has been very involved in community theater having directed, music directed and produced many productions.

    Having sung previously with the Washington Sängerbund, Christopher is excited to have returned to the group, but this time as the conductor. For Christmas 2021, he led the first public performance since the choir resumed singing after the global pandemic shut down all activity for more than a year. He is impressed by the choir’s strong desire to make music and is humbled by the warm acceptance they have already shown him.

Yuhe Wang is currently pursuing her doctoral degree in piano performance at University of Maryland. Wang started piano at four, and quickly showed a strong talent and won several competitions in China before entering teenage years. She resumed her music study after coming to the U.S., originally aiming for a career in economics. She graduated with two Bachelor of Art degrees in both music and economics from the University of Rochester and a Master of Music degree in piano performance from Ithaca College. 

Her teachers include Qin Zhou, Peiying Huang,

Shichao Zhang, Vincent Lenti, Dmitri Novgorodsky, and Larissa Dedova. Wang has received several masterclasses with renowned pianists such as Xianyi Liao, Yuri Didenko, Gerardo Teissonnière, Mikhail Mordvinov, Amy Gustafson, Nikolai Lugansky, Lukáš Vondráček, and so on.

Besides regular performances in the U.S., she gave her European debut in Germany and Spain in 2019. Her teaching career began when she was appointed Teaching Assistant at the University of Rochester and was later awarded a Graduate Assistantship at Ithaca College. 

Wang ontinues to receive Teaching Assistantship at University of Maryland. She teaches piano in both group and private settings. She was the Artist-in-Residence at Collington Continuing Care Retirement Community for the 2023-2024 academic year.