Sara Hessel is a native of Michigan. After graduating from high school she moved to Lexington, KY to study at the University of Kentucky. She attended there for two years, and then traveled to the Netherlands as part of a student exchange program. Finding the natives friendly, she stayed for seven years, earning her Master's degree in historical musicology from the University of Amsterdam along the way.

Sara is an avid amateur organist and harpsichordist. She studied those instruments for five years with organist Harm Harhuis while in the Netherlands, a wonderful place to see, hear and play historic instruments.

A list of her own personal favorite 'ancient voices' includes: Dieterich Buxtehude, Matthias Weckmann, Jan-Pieterszoon Sweelinck, Pérotin, Aquitanian polyphony, and Guillaume du Machaut; and a from a time a little closer to our own: Johannes Brahms, Igor Stravinsky, Maurice Ravel and Leoš Janácek.

Sara recently visited Lübeck, Germany to attend the Buxtehude Festival Week (May 5-13, 2007) to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the composer’s death. To read about her musical adventures there and to view some pictures click here.