Palaver Strings is a Grammy-nominated, musician-led string ensemble and nonprofit organization based in Portland, ME. Their mission is to strengthen and inspire community through music. In their musician-led model, Palaver’s musicians share artistic and administrative leadership, guided by a passion for engaging new audiences, addressing social justice issues, and amplifying underrepresented voices. Equally committed to performance and education, Palaver presents a full season of live concerts and serves hundreds of students yearly at the Palaver Music Center in Portland.
They will be playing as a quartet and presenting this new piece:

What Travels

What Travels explores the ways memory and knowledge are carried across generations - not only through families, but through music itself. Jessie Montgomery's Source Code traces musical lineages and inherited ideas, showing how fragments of the past help shape new creation. Flowing directly into Osvaldo Golijov's Tenebrae, the music takes us to a place of grief, stillness, and remembrance. Continuing with Diego Vega Desenne's Diaspora, our view expands outward to explore themes of migration, displacement, and resilience through the musical traditions of Latin America. Together, these three works consider what endures as people move, traditions evolve, and what travels across borders and through time. In the end, What Travels affirms that music itself is one of humanity's most enduring forms of memory.

Repertoire:

Montgomery Source Code 9’

Golijov Tenebrae 12’

Desenne Diaspora 23’

Musicians:

Violin: Maya French, Grant Houston

Viola: Brianna Fischler

Cello: Adalus Low-Manzini