Palaver Strings

We are so excited to present “I Believed in Magic”: Thursday, September 24th at Johnson Hall in Gardiner, Maine.

Florence Price, Mary Kouyoumdjian, and Nina Shekhar turn your favorite bedtime stories inside out. Two premieres join them, including one from our own Teagan Faran, answering Berlioz himself.

Thursday, Sept 24 · 7:30 PM
Johnson Hall, 280 Water St, Gardiner, ME

get your tickets now!

People often ask us what “Palaver” means.

It comes from the palaver hut: a traditional setting for discussion and conflict resolution in Liberia and other West African countries. Some of our first performances were benefit concerts for the Liberian Education Fund, co-founded by our Executive Director, Maya French, which raised scholarship money for Liberian high school and college students.

We operate in a very different cultural context, and we’ve thought carefully about what it means to claim this name. Our friends in Liberia gave us their blessing, and we keep the conversation going. It’s an important part of our story.

You can watch Ley’Go, a documentary about LEF students, here: YouTube.com/

Meet Gwendolyn, our brilliant education director! Some words directly from her:

“Hi! I’m Gwendolyn Matias-Ryan and the Education Director of the Palaver Music Center. Being a part of the Palaver Strings Organization means a great deal to me. I have always been determined to work for social justice in the arts through my music performance and community work. Palaver Strings shares this commitment and exudes it with great joy and empathy. I feel honored to be chosen to lead our incredibly deserving students at PMC alongside its remarkable faculty. In addition to this role, I’m also a violist and artistic director of the SA’OAXACA International Music Festival and feel at home surrounded by nature, family, good food, and good music. Since moving to Maine last year, I find myself falling in love with the sea and the pine woods. It’s a joy to be here.”

📸 T**ilayo Ayangade

Did you know: Palaver’s ensemble is entirely musician-led: Thirteen Co-Artistic Directors share musical and artistic leadership, rotating project direction between them, and the programming is shaped by individual musicians bringing their unique perspectives and expertise to the group.

Some of us also hold administrative roles, which means the one who selected the repertoire can also be the one answering your email!

📸 Yoon S. Byun

Meet Joel Rosen, cello instructor at the PMC. In his own words:

“I grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and music has always been a big part of my life. My mom played violin in the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra for many years, and I went tojnm concerts there all the time. I met my wife at DePaul University in Chicago, where we both were music students. She is from Maine, so after we finished up our degrees, we looked into moving to Portland. I learned about Palaver Strings, and was really inspired by their excellent string playing and commitment to performing music of all origins. I’m very grateful to be a part of this organization, and I’m really looking forward to another year teaching at the PMC!”

📸 T**ilayo Ayangade

Every student in After-School Strings gets weekly private lessons, a group class, and an instrument and case to take home.

It’s the core program at Palaver Music Center: violin, viola and cello, for students in kindergarten through seventh. We add a grade level every year, working toward K–12. The programs run thirty weeks, September through May, at 380 Cumberland Ave. Each student attends a private lesson and a 45-minute group class or chamber music coaching each week, with regular recitals and neighborhood performances throughout the year giving them the chance to perform for each other and the community.

Tuition runs on a sliding scale set by household income, from $70 to $350 a month, and financial aid is available on top of that. The scale is published in English, Portuguese and French.

We’re accepting students for this year. Applications are open at palaverstrings.org/afterschoolstrings.

📸 Yoon S. Byun

season 13
Six programs, chosen collaboratively by our co-artistic directors, about inheritance: the songs our grandmothers sang, the stories we were told as children, the ground that our food comes from today. We’re traveling all over between September and May and we can’t wait to share this music with you.

I Believed in Magic — bedtime stories, retold. Florence Price, Mary Kouyoumdjian, and Nina Shekhar, plus two premieres from Palaver violinist Teagan Faran as well as Xenia St. Charles Iris Llyllyth.

What Travels Chamber Series — Jessie Montgomery, Osvaldo Golijov, and Diego Vega Desenne on migration, grief, and what people carry with them featuring four Palaver members: maya french and @‌grant.houston on violin, Brianna Fischler on viola, and @‌adaluscellow on cello.

(R)evolution: Revelation Chamber Series — Irish fiddler Liz Knowles joins four of our own: Bree Ann Fotheringham and @‌maithenagiraultviolin on violin, @‌elizabettmoore on viola, Matthew Smith on cello to share original music interspersed with string quartet classics.

Incwadi — we’re continuing this beloved collaboration with our incredible friends, @‌vuyosotashe and @‌chrispattishall bring South African folk song, choral music, and jazz into arrangements for voice, piano, and strings.

Be the Oyster — a chamber opera served in courses featuring vocals by @‌lisel.jpeg and @‌vuyosotashe. Composed by our dear friend and incredible Grammy-winning artist @‌hapacello with text by visual storyteller @‌arielabergriger, and direction by @‌Hogfishme. Six performances on working farms with Outstanding in the Field, one vignette and one dish for each region.

September concerts at http://palaverstrings.org/events and more details coming for the rest in mid September, we can’t wait to play for you.

Artful and thoughtful season photography by @‌titilayoayangade. We’re so lucky to work with T**i year after year.

Meet Kiyoshi, violinist and co-artistic director, in his own words:
‌
Yoooo! My name is Kiyoshi, but my friends call me Ki!
I play violin and viola (joined the dark side about 3 years ago), am passionate about teaching and mentoring the next generation, and have a health & career coaching practice where I help creative entrepreneurs build the business skills and holistic lifestyles they need to create meaningful and sustainable careers.
I’ve been with Palaver since the early days of 2016!!!! WILD to see how far we’ve come, and I’m constantly blown away by the awesomeness, dedication, and heart of this crew.
I value Palaver incredibly deeply because it’s such a supportive family of like-minded musicians and it’s reconnected me with the joy, fulfillment, and sense of community I first experienced playing music as a kid. After every Palaver event, I walk away inspired to be a more intentional musician, a more compassionate person, and a more thoughtful citizen of the world. Real talk – these people are dope and they walk the walk!
Aside from Palaver, my other musical families include @‌rasastringquartet and @‌capecodchamberorchestra, and I spend my summers teaching at @‌ithacainstitute and @‌applehillmusic.
Outside of music and coaching, I’m an apple fiend (2–5 apples a day ), ping pong wizard, health nut, outdoors enthusiast, podcast ju**ie, aspiring yogi, and occasional pickup soccer, tennis, and basketball player.
Y’all better be ready because Palaver is gonna BRING IT this season!
Every year @‌mayfrench, Gwendolyn Xtané Matias-Ryan , and Co. dream up huge goals for how the ensemble can keep growing, how PMC can deepen its impact in the Portland community, and how Palaver can become a bigger voice in the classical music world. And somehow, every year, they over-deliver.
I’m most excited to keep refining our musical ideas and group sound, explore new places on our national tours, strengthen our culture and communication as a completely democratic musical fam (with MANY amazing personalities!), and have more legendary hangs.
Season 13 LET’S GOOOOOOO

📸 T**ilayo Ayangade Yoon S. Byun

Meet Maya French, violinist, co-artistic director and executive director. We’re so lucky to have her!
A few words from maya french :

“I’m floored that Palaver has been part of my life since I was 19 in Boston, from the very beginnings. It’s been very special, watching this group ebb and flow and, even metamorphose: where each individual is so unique and so beautiful, and yet the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. I am in inspired by the community within this ensemble, our incredible staff, and the families and students who teach us as much as we offer them.

I play violin because of my older sister and two cousins who motivated me through grade school, alongside countless folk legends from midcoast Maine. The chamber music world cracked wide open for me through Kneisel Hall and Kinhaven at a young age, and I never looked back, though being a musician is truly a choice one makes again every single day. Through admin work, I think about that constantly, and dream to make these careers more sustainable for all of us.

We are so lucky to be doing this work together, and I hope we continue to use our time to make change through our music. I’m loving that Palaver is touring more and finding ourselves in new places but really wish I could bring my dog cow. 🐄”

📸 T**ilayo Ayangade Yoon S. Byun + Luke Fatora