Patrick Von Sevich

Bitter Jester Music Festival Judge

Patrick Von Sevich is a multi-instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, and record producer from Northbrook, Illinois. He helps manage operations at The Shed, a private musicians’s club in Highland Park, IL, run by fellow BJMF judge Lynette Foss (ask them about it!).

A son of two Polish immigrants, Patrick has been highly involved in the Polish-American music community both as a musician and an educator.

As a teenager, he served the role of singer and guitarist in the atmospheric prog-rock trio Circular Soul, performing regularly in music venues across Chicagoland. This culminated in an opening slot playing before Polish alt-rock giants Feel at the Congress Theater in 2009. 

In 2010, Patrick won runner-up in the international PureSolo guitar competition, judged by Mark Knopfler of Dire Straits fame. With the dissolution of Circular Soul, Patrick pursued a bachelor’s degree in Audio Design and Production at Columbia College Chicago and put those skills into use doing post-production work for Polish radio station 92.7FM. 

Since then, Patrick has opened a recording studio and music school in Highland Park, Illinois where he splits his time between teaching, recording and pursuing his own solo career.

Having a passion in particular for helping young artists, he was overjoyed to see his frequent collaborators, Wisconsin band Scorched Waves, win Bitter Jester in 2023 and become runners-up in 2024 only to be offered an opening spot for The Black Crowes at Ravinia in 2025.

A fan of the Bitter Jester Music Festival for many years, Patrick is proud to participate as a new judge for Bitter Jester and hopes to continue helping young aspiring artists as a part of a greater mission to foster a universal compassion through the arts.

He is beyond excited to judge and looks forward to connecting with even more talented artists at BJMF in 2025 and beyond!