Education: DMA, Choral Conducting, University of Washington, 2018

MM, Choral Conducting, University of Wisconsin at Madison, 2012 

BA, Music, Williams College, 2009 

Department: Fine and Performing Arts

Office: Chapel

CONTACT ME FOR…

• Anything related to choral and instrumental ensembles or other music courses

PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITY:

As the Director of Choral Activities/Assistant Professor of Music at Eureka College, I lead the Eureka College Chorale, Chamber Singers, and instrumental Chamber Ensemble, as well as teaching courses in composition, improvisation, musicianship, and conducting. I am also the Music Director of the Baroque Artists of Champaign Urbana.

I am a long-time faculty member and choral director at The Walden School Young Musicians Program, an inspiring summer program in New Hampshire for creative musicians ages 9-18. I have written chamber music for the Quince Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, Hub New Music, the International Contemporary Ensemble, and Ensemble Dal Niente as part of the Walden School Faculty Commissioning Project at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. My compositions are available on my website (www.sarahriskind.com) and featured in the contemporary choral music catalogue Project Encore. 

As a presenter and clinician, I specialize in Renaissance polyphony, Sephardic music, musicianship training, and choral improvisation. In a 2021 Walden Online Workshop entitled Chromaticism in Renaissance Music: What living musicians can learn frmo Gesualdo and friends, I discussed wide-ranging uses of musica ficta and guided the multi-generational participants in composing with similar techniques.

In addition to choral conducting, composition, and singing early music, I enjoy playing Irish and French-Canadian fiddle and classical violin.