Music Bios

Kirsten Hedegaard, Director of Music

Kirsten Hede­gaard has enjoyed a duel career as a singer and con­duc­tor.

She has per­formed numer­ous Bach can­tatas and baroque cham­ber music and has been a soloist with many early music spe­cial­ists includ­ing Nicholas McGe­gan, Paul Hillier, Ivars Tau­rins, Ken­neth Slowik, and John Butt. Ms. Hede­gaard has sung with, Phil­har­mo­nia Baroque (found­ing mem­ber), Mer­cury Baroque, Ensem­ble viii, Baroque Band, the New­berry Con­sort, Ars Anti­qua, the Rook Ensem­ble, the Cal­lipy­gian Play­ers, the Opera Com­pany, Bella Voce, and Tafel­musik BSI among other ensem­bles. Ms. Hede­gaard has per­formed a vari­ety of new works, includ­ing an inter­na­tional tour of Louis Andriessens’s The Odyssey with the Bep­pie Blankert Dance Com­pany and per­for­mances with the Grammy-award win­ning new music ensem­ble, eighth blackbird.

Cur­rently Direc­tor of Choral Activ­i­ties at Loy­ola Uni­ver­sity, Ms. Hede­gaard has taught con­duct­ing at Con­cor­dia Uni­ver­sity, River For­est and has con­ducted choirs and orches­tras for var­i­ous insti­tu­tions includ­ing East­man House, Chicago Children’s Choir, Gallery 37, Loy­ola Acad­emy, and the Uni­ver­sity of Cal­i­for­nia. She was guest con­duc­tor with Chicago Choral Artists for the 2009-10 sea­son and is the for­mer con­duc­tor for the Bella Voce Out­reach pro­gram. In 2000, she co-founded The Musi­cal Offer­ing, a non­profit music school in Evanston where she held the posi­tion of Exec­u­tive Direc­tor until 2005. She also holds the posi­tion of Direc­tor of Music at the Pres­by­ter­ian Church of Barrington.

Ms. Hede­gaard holds a BM from North­west­ern Uni­ver­sity and her MA in con­duct­ing from the Uni­ver­sity of CA, where she was assis­tant to Paul Hillier. In 2008 she was invited to be a con­duct­ing Fel­low at the Yale Nor­folk Fes­ti­val, study­ing with Simon Carrington.

Andrew Luzwick, Organ Scholar, Interim Organist

Andrew Luzwick is a freelance musician based out of Chicago with a passion for various styles of music and performance.  

Most often, Andrew is seen music directing with various professional and amateur theatre groups. He is also the proud bandleader of the youngest and largest cover band in the Chicagoland area, The Dynamix- Ultimate Classics Cover Band. 
 
An avid multi-instrumentalist, in addition to piano, Andrew has also been trained in all the saxophones, clarinet, and flute. He has studied at The Chicago College of the Performing Arts at Roosevelt University under saxophonist and arranger Jim Gailloreto, as well as other Chicago jazz legends like Tom Garling, Henry Johnson, Scott Mason, and Paul Wertico. 
 
In 2019, Andrew was honored to be a part of the inaugural class of Choral Scholars at the Presbyterian Church of Barrington. Since that term ended, he has returned as a guest singer in the choir and guest musician on piano and saxophone. In 2024 he was honored to return to the church as Organ Scholar before serving the community over the summer as the Summer Pianist. Andrew is thrilled to continue his relationship with the church community and staff serving now as the Interim Organist. 

Jonathan Wagner-Yau, Guest Organist

Mr. Jay Wagner-Yau began piano studies at the age 6 and attended the South Carolina Governor School for the Arts and Humanities, a boarding school for gifted students.

He continued his piano studies with Lena Schuman at the San Francisco Conservatory of music. And in 2011, he began organ studies with Dr. Julia Harlow in Charleston, SC. 

His teachers include James David Christie for organ and Webb Wiggins for harpsichord at Oberlin Conservatory; Jean-Baptiste Robin, organist of Chapelle Royale at Versailles and professor at the Versailles Conservatoire; Marie-Louis Langlais, wife of French Organist Jean Langlais and retired professor at the Paris Conservatoire CRR. He has participated in master classes with Harold Vogel, Hector Olivera, Michel Bouvard, and Liuwe Tamminga, Olivier Latry and many others. 

Mr. Wagner-Yau also studied in Paris, Versailles, Geneva and surrounding areas, specifically studying the music of the French court around the time of Louis XIV through Louis XVI, especially the organ music at Versailles. He practiced and studied on the 1710 Clicquot organ and a 1635 Ruckers harpsichord. He has studied, practiced, performed, or played for Mass on organs in Toulouse, Bordeaux, Poitiers, Rouen, and countless other organs in France. Mr. Wagner-Yau has toured as organist & musician for several pilgrimages, notably while on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, he had the opportunity to play the twin 1701 and 20th century organs in the Lugo Cathedral and in Poland playing Mass at the Shrine of our Lady of Czestochowa and other holy sites.

Mr. Wagner-Yau worked for Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church, located in Naperville, IL. In 2015 he joined as Organist and Assistant under Matthew Sprinkle, and in 2020 took over as Director of Sacred Music and Liturgy. During his tenure at SSPP he also planned liturgies for the Cathedral of St. Raymond Nonnatus in Joliet, IL. Previously he was the Director of Music & Organist of the historic Second Presbyterian Church in South Loop, Chicago. Mr. Wagner-Yau resides in the Chicago Loop with his husband Matthew.

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