The University of Maryland's Premiere Jewish A Cappella Group
Meet Kol Sasson
Ruthie Vogel
Sophomore • Alto • President • Tour Coordinator
Ruthie is a Physics major from Silver Spring, MD, and is also minoring in Sustainability and International Development. Outside of Kol Sasson, she spends her time writing poetry, baking food to share with friends, hiking, and asking her family to send pictures of her dog. Ruthie’s favorite thing to do is have good conversations with people she cares about.
Jason Kearney
Senior • Tenor • Musical Director
Jason is an Information Science major from Gaithersburg, Maryland. In his spare time he enjoys playing guitar, reading, and aimlessly walking around with friends. He also can recall the episode from almost any SpongeBob quote.
Micah Pickus
Graduate Student • Bass • Tour Coordinator • Fundraising
Micah was a Russian Studies Major, Double Minor in Politics/Islamic and Middle Eastern studies in undergrad, and is currently a Public Policy Master’s student focusing on Russian security studies and cybersecurity, originally from Durham, North Carolina. In his spare time he enjoys making music, baking/cooking, and watching soccer and basketball.
Aviel Taube
Sophomore • Bass/Beatbox • Business Manager • CD Coordinator
Aviel is a Public Policy Major who grew up in Sharon, Massachusetts and now lives in Baltimore, Maryland. When he’s not singing and beatboxing with the rest of Kol Sasson, he’s either running, biking, swimming or doing some other sport that doesn’t involve other people. Most hours of the day you'll find him somewhere in Hillel pretending to do work or reminicing about the "good old days" living in Sharon.
Jackson Diaz
Junior • Baritone • Musical Director • CD Coordinator
Jackson is an Aerospace Engineering and Computer Science double major from Gaithersburg, MD. In his free time, he enjoys discovering new music and playing the piano. Jackson wants to one day work on spaceships and send humans to Mars!
Keren Binyamin
Senior • Soprano
Keren is from Columbia, MD and is a marketing and management double major. In her free time, she enjoys doing pro-Israel advocacy, spending time with her friends, and singing + playing ukulele. You can also find her eating anything cheesy in sight but of course never with meat!!
Michael Chernak
Sophomore • Baritone • Fundraising • Alumni Coordinator
Michael was born in Baltimore, MD (unfortunately), but has since moved to Highland Park, NJ (also unfortunately) when he was 12. He loves stuffed animals, video games, and Brandon Sanderson, and is always ready to reference an obscure/SpongeBob meme. Right now, Michael is studying Physics, but is considering a second major in Astronomy!
Jess Daninhirsch
Freshman • Alto • Social Media
Jess is a journalism major from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and is a huge 80s pop culture fan. When she’s not singing Kol Sasson songs, you can find her dancing, taking photos of literally everything, watching movies and taking extensive notes on the cinematography (because she’d also love to work in the film industry if she’s not a traveling photographer for NatGeo), or taking walks with her family, friends, and/or two dogs, Daisy and Charlie.
Sarah Blackman
Freshman • Mezzo • Costume Coordinator
Sarah is an animal science and psychology double major from Ellicott City, MD. She enjoys singing, drawing, and spending time with her family and friends. Sarah especially enjoys chilling with her dog, Dioji :)
Tekoa Sultan-Reisler
Freshman • Alto • Costume Coordinator
Tekoa is from Silver Spring, Maryland, and is majoring in Environmental Science and Policy. Besides practicing hard for Kol Sasson, Tekoa loves crocheting, embroidering, and general crafting. She is always down for ice skating or a museum. Her best subject is obscure One Direction trivia.
Olivia La Fiandra
Sophomore • Soprano • Social Media • Fun Coordinator
Olivia is from Baltimore, Maryland, and is majoring in Linguistics. When Olivia isn’t singing with Kol Sasson, she enjoys reading, cooking, hanging out with friends, and listening to music. Olivia’s favorite movie is the 2005 film adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice.
Joel Rajakumar
Graduate Student • Baritone
Joel is a computer science PhD student working on quantum computing. He's from San Diego, California and he grew up in Chennai, India. When he's not singing A Cappella, Joel likes to play basketball, watch movies, or play the piano.
Sophia Andersen
Graduate Exchange Student • Soprano
Sophia is a exchange student from Denmark majoring in civil Engineering. Outside of Kol Sasson, Sophia does gymnastics and loves to be creative with drawing and crocheting. Sophia also enjoys hanging out with her international friends and explore American culture.
