Sarah Riskind is a choral conductor, composer, and fiddler based in Peoria, Illinois. As Music Director of the Baroque Artists of Champaign-Urbana since 2021, she has highlighted stunning repertoire from many historical periods, from pairing Dietrich Buxtehude with Caroline Shaw to exploring the meaning of canon in a concert entitled The Three Bs (featuring music by Margaret Bonds, Harry T. Burleigh, and Lili Boulanger).

She is the Director of Traditional Music at Willow Hill United Methodist Church and has also spent many summers as choral director and faculty at The Walden School’s summer programs for creative musicians in Dublin, New Hampshire. Previously, she was the Director of Choral Activities at Eureka College in central Illinois, where she received the T. A. Abbott Award for Faculty Excellence from the Higher Education and Leadership Ministries of the Disciples of Christ.

As a composer, Dr. Riskind has a large catalogue of choral music, chamber music, and art songs, including many settings of Jewish texts and a four-movement Oz Cantata for chorus, soloists, and string quartet. In addition to her work in classical music, she is a fiddler and vocalist in the Peoria-based Irish band Turas.

She holds a DMA in Choral Conducting from University of Washington, an MM in Choral Conducting from University of Wisconsin at Madison, and a BA in Music from Williams College. www.sarahriskind.com

Jonathan Young is Director of Music at the Catholic Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Champaign, Illinois. Originally from Moses Lake, Washington, Jonathan holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, a Master of Music degree from the Eastman School of Music, and completed doctoral coursework and recitals at the University of Illinois. Jonathan was the Alternate Winner of the 2011 Mu Phi Epsilon International Competition, held in conjunction with the fraternity’s triennial convention in Rochester, New York.

From 2014-2017, Jonathan was Director of Music and Organist at First Presbyterian Church of Urbana, and from 2011-2014 Director of Music at the Catholic Church of the Immaculate Conception in Mattoon, Illinois. He was a Visiting Lecturer at the University of Illinois teaching Aural Skills courses in 2016-2017, and was a Senior Lecturer and Visiting University Organist at PLU for the 2009-2010 academic year.

Jonathan has appeared on several recordings with the PLU Choir of the West and Choral Union as an accompanist and soloist, including the Choral Union’s 2011 American Prize-winning 25th Anniversary Album featuring Benjamin Britten’s The Company of Heaven and movements from Kodaly’s Missa Brevis.