The University of Maryland's Premiere Jewish A Cappella Group
Meet Kol Sasson
Aviel Taube
Junior • Bass/Beatbox • Album Coordinator • President
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
Senior • Baritone • Musical Director • Album 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!
Ruthie Vogel
Junior • Alto • Social Media
Ruthie is a Physics major from Silver Spring, MD, and is also minoring in Sustainability and International Development. Outside of Kol Sasson, they spends time writing poetry, baking food to share with friends, hiking, and asking their family to send pictures of their dog. Ruthie’s favorite thing to do is have good conversations with people they cares about.
Keren Binyamin
Masters Student • Soprano • Tour Coordinator • Alumni Liaison
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
Junior • Baritone
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
Sophomore • Alto • Social Media • Tour Coordinator
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
Sophomore • Mezzo • Musical Director
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
Sophomore • Alto • Business Manager
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
Junior • Soprano • Costumes • 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 • Fundraising
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.