collaborators
Devon Kelley-Yurdin
Featured Season 10 Artist
Devon Kelley-Yurdin (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist, friend, and instigator of collective experiences. Their practice spans traditional media such as printmaking, cut-paper, installation; design, illustration, and art direction; event production and facilitation; performance; and cultural organizing. Their work reaches for collaboration, curiosity, bravery, emergent process, deep relationship, queerness, interdependence, and connection to more-than-human neighbors, and is grounded in the belief that building collective creative capacity is central to holistic community care and liberatory world-building. They live rurally with chosen family in Penobscot territory in Wabanakik, the Dawnland, in what is colonially known as midcoast Maine. More of Devon's work can be found at www.devonkelley-yurdin.com, on Instagram @____dky____ , and you can contact them directly by email at devon.kelley.yurdin@gmail.com.
Nicholas Phan
A Change is Gonna Come - Tenor
Described by the Boston Globe as “one of the world’s most remarkable singers,” American tenor Nicholas Phan is increasingly recognized as an artist of distinction. With an incredibly diverse repertoire that spans nearly 500 years of music, he performs regularly with the world’s leading orchestras and opera companies. Sought after as a curator and programmer, in addition to his work as artistic director of Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago, Phan has also created programs for broadcast on WFMT and WQXR, and served as guest curator for projects with the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Merola Opera, and San Francisco Performances, where he served as the vocal artist-in-residence from 2014-2018. A celebrated recording artist, he has twice been nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Classical Solo Vocal Album. He is the first singer of Asian descent to be nominated in the history of the category, which has been awarded by the Recording Academy since 1959.
Errollyn Wallen
A Change is Gonna Come - Composer
Errollyn Wallen is a multi award-winning Belize-born British composer and performer. Her prolific output includes twenty-two operas and a large catalogue of orchestral, chamber and vocal works which are performed and broadcast throughout the world. She was the first black woman to have a work featured in the Proms. Errollyn composed for the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games 2012, for the Queen’s Golden and Diamond Jubilees, a specially commissioned song for the climate change conference, COP 26, 2021, and a re-imagining of Jerusalem for BBC’s Last Night of the Proms 2020. BBC Radio 3 featured her music across the first week of 2022 for its flagship programme, Composer of the Week and she has made several radio documentaries includingClassical Commonwealth, nominated for the Prix Europa, which explored the impact of colonialism on music in the Commonwealth. Errollyn Wallen founded her own group, Ensemble X whose motto is “we don’t break down barriers in music…we don’t see any”. Their orchestral album PHOTOGRAPHY on the NMC label was voted a Top Ten Classical Album by USA’s National Public Radio. Orchestra X performed Errollyn’s composition Mighty River, which was featured in PRSF’s New Music Biennial 2017 and which is being performed at this year’s PRSF Biennial by National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at Coventry Cathedral and the Southbank, London. Errollyn Wallen collaborated with artist Sonia Boyce on her installation, Feeling Her Way, for the British Pavilion at this year’s Venice Biennale which won the Golden Lion prize for Best National Participation. Errollyn’s albums have travelled 7.84 million kilometres in space, completing 186 orbits around the Earth on NASA’s STS115 mission. Her critically acclaimed opera, Dido’s Ghost premiered at the Barbican, London, in June 2021 and will receive its US premiere in 2023 in San Francisco by co-commissioners Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Chorale. Recent and forthcoming premieres include a piano concerto composed for pianist Rebeca Ormodia, The World’s Weather, an orchestral work premiered by BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Martyn Brabbins, and new choral works for King’s College Choir, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, Salisbury Cathedral and Harrow School. The April premiere and tour of her latest opera (for Graeae Theatre Company), The Paradis Files, coincided with the premiere of Quamino’s Map, for Chicago Opera Theater. Errollyn was awarded an MBE in 2007 in the Queen’s Birthday Honours and a CBE in 2020 in the New Year Honours, for services to music.
Akenya Seymour
A Change is Gonna Come - Composer
Akenya is a multi-genre vocalist, pianist, composer, producer, and educator. Her music is an eclectic synthesis of jazz, hip-hop, soul, pop, classical, and world music. A proud Chicago native, Akenya has performed and recorded with some of the city's leading artists such as Smino, Saba, and Chance the Rapper.
In 2016, Akenya joined forces with rapper Noname, appearing on her critically -acclaimed debut album Telefone and touring as her musical director, keyboardist, background vocalist, and opening act. During this time, they opened for Hannibal Buress, Anderson Paak, Ms. Lauryn Hill, played events such as MTV’s Rec Fest and Gilles Peterson’s Worldwide Awards, and performed throughout Europe, the Middle East, and North America. After appearing with Noname on her Tiny Desk Concert, Akenya was asked to contribute vocals to Chicago legend Mavis Staples's 2017 album If All I Was Was Black. Produced and written by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco, the album received a Grammy® nomination.
As a solo artist, Akenya's unique sound and versatile musicianship has garnered the attention of top tier publications such as The Chicago Tribune, The Fader, and Afropunk. She has performed her original music across the country and abroad. In her hometown, Akenya has played nearly every major venue including Thalia Hall, Lincoln Hall, and Metro. In the fall of 2017, she made her solo festival debut with a stellar set at North Coast Musical Festival. Akenya is currently working on her highly anticipated, debut LP, Moon in the 4th. Her newest single Decay is out now and can be streamed, downloaded, and purchased anywhere music is available.
Jonathan Bingham
A Change is Gonna Come - Arranger
Over the last decade, composer Jonathan Bingham has been recognized for his use of electronic and acoustic instrumentation. In addition to having his work performed by the San Francisco Symphony and National Brass Ensemble, he’s created original scores for over a dozen film productions which have premiered at the New York Film Festival, Rome International Film Festival, and BFI London Film Festival among others. Having lectured at Stanford University and Swarthmore College, he currently serves as an adjunct professor at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Holding degrees in composition from Howard University and New York University, Jonathan studied with Anthony Randolph and Justin Dello Joio respectively. Aside from composing, he is founder of Cool Story — a record label researching music and producing recordings of lesser known literature.
Nico Muhly
A Change is Gonna Come - Composer / Arranger
Nico Muhly, born in 1981, is an American composer who writes orchestral music, works for the stage, chamber music and sacred music. He’s received commissions from The Metropolitan Opera: Two Boys (2011), and Marnie (2018); Carnegie Hall, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, The Australian Chamber Orchestra, the Tallis Scholars, and King’s College, Cambridge, among others. He is a collaborative partner at the San Francisco Symphony and has been featured at the Barbican and the Philharmonie de Paris as composer, performer, and curator. An avid collaborator, he has worked with choreographers Benjamin Millepied at the Paris Opéra Ballet, Bobbi Jene Smith at the Juilliard School, Justin Peck and Kyle Abraham at New York City Ballet; artists Sufjan Stevens, The National, Teitur, Anohni, James Blake, and Paul Simon. His work for film includes scores for The Reader (2008), Kill Your Darlings (2013) and the BBC adaptation of Howards End (2017). Recordings of his works have been released by Decca and Nonesuch, and he is part of the artist-run record label Bedroom Community, which released his first two albums, Speaks Volumes (2006) and Mothertongue (2008).
Domenic Salerni
A Change is Gonna Come - Arranger
Domenic Salerni is a Brooklyn-based violinist, composer, and arranger. In 2020, he joined the Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet. Since then, Attacca has released two albums with Sony Classical, “Real Life” and “Of All Joys,“ has collaborated with such artists as Caroline Shaw, Rhiannon Giddens, Patrick Watson, and Becca Stevens, opened for the band San Fermin at Celebrate Brooklyn, and performed John Adams with the Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Colombia. Attacca is looking forward to a full touring schedule next season including appearances in Japan in the fall, and to a new release of Caroline Shaw’s music on Nonesuch Records.
Domenic holds degrees from the Yale University School of Music and the Cleveland Institute of Music. He often appears as a guest with the Chiarina Chamber Players, based in Capitol Hill, DC, and just premiered a work written for Chiarina and baritone Carl Dupont by composer Carlos Simon made possible by Chamber Music America. He is excited to hear his original arrangements written for Palaver Strings and tenor Nicholas Phan, and to join Palaver as guest violinist again this season.
Peipei Song
Homeland - Piano
Dr. Peipei Song is a collaborative pianist at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee. She actively works with instrumentalists for competitions in the Boston area, many of whom have won or placed in the Boston Pops Young Artist Competition, New England Conservatory Prep Concerto Competition, Boston Conservatory Soloist Concerto Competition, and New England Philharmonic Young Artist Competition. She has studied with well-known string quartets that held chamber music residencies at Arizona State University: Brentano String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, and Shanghai String Quartet. Since 2017, Dr. Song has given annual piano chamber music lecture recitals at the National Centre for Performing Arts in Beijing, China. Before coming to the United States, she served on the piano faculty of Tianjin Conservatory of Music (China). In both 2005 and 2006, Dr. Song received the National Excellent Piano Teacher of China award from China Education Television. In addition to Groton Hill Music Center, she is a member of the piano faculty and piano chamber music coach at Bay Chamber Concerts and Music School (Rockport, Maine). While she worked on her doctoral degree at Arizona State University, her mentor was Professor Russell Ryan.
Sergio Muñoz
Homeland - Viola
Chilean violist Sergio Muñoz Leiva is an advocate for dialogue, collaboration, and community-building, which he realizes in music through his love for chamber music and education. A curious and versatile performer, Dr. Muñoz Leiva is active in chamber music, solo, and orchestral settings. His repertoire spans from early Baroque to music that is fresh off the press, performed on both modern and baroque viola. He has premiered works by Paola Prestini and Nico Muhly, and has collaborated with artists such as Kinan Azmeh, Dinuk Wijeratne, Masaaki Suzuki, Rachel Podger, Monica Huggett, Robert Mealy, Daniel S. Lee, Emi Ferguson, Laurie Smukler, Catherine Cho, Natasha Brofsky, Areta Zhulla, Carol Rodland, Kim Kashkashian, Mikhail Kopelman, Renée Jolles, Ariadne Daskalakis, and Steven Doane.
Dr. Muñoz Leiva is a member of the Providence Baroque Orchestra and has performed as a guest artist with A Far Cry, Palaver Strings, Carnegie Hall’s Link Up Orchestra, the United Nations Chamber Music Society, the Princeton Symphony Orchestra, and the Chile Chamber Orchestra. He has appeared in venues such as Jordan Hall and Symphony Hall in Boston; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, and Carnegie Hall in New York; the Municipal Theater of Santiago in Santiago de Chile; the Guangzhou and Shenzhen Opera Houses in China; the LVR-Landesmuseum in Bonn, Germany; and the Palazzo Ricci in Montepulciano, Italy. His musical mentors are Penelope Knuth, David Holland, Dimitri Murrath, Kim Kashkashian, and Carol Rodland. He is a graduate of the Interlochen Arts Academy and holds degrees from the New England Conservatory, the Eastman School of Music, and The Juilliard School. His research interests include musical analysis, Latin American folk music, and music as a catalyst for community building.
Dr. Muñoz Leiva joined the Department of Music of College of the Holy Cross as Interim Director of Chamber Music in September 2022. He also currently serves as Music Theory Instructor at Project STEP in Boston. Previous teaching appointments include serving as Studio Teaching Assistant to Carol Rodland at The Juilliard School, as Instructor of Viola for Non-Majors at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester, and as Teaching Artist at City College Academy of the Arts in New York. As a multilingual citizen of the world, Dr. Muñoz Leiva enjoys the subtleties of language, linguistics, and semantics. When he is not musicking, he can be found in the swimming pool perfecting his butterfly stroke.
Brian J. Evans
Noisefloor - Talkback facilitator
Brian J. Evans is a Citizen Artist, defined by the Aspen Institute Arts Program as:
Individuals who reimagine the traditional notions of art-making, and who contribute to society either through the transformative power of their artistic abilities, or through proactive social engagement with the arts in realms including education, community building, diplomacy and healthcare.
Mixing disciplines, mixing professions, and mixed race, Brian J. Evans unpacks the “moments of suspension” that reside in the spaces between spaces—convinced that connections exist between us all and it is the responsibility of the Arts to remind us to be holistically human, lest we forget. Courageous vulnerability and intentional equity keep him aloft as he finds ways to give back and add to the communities, mentors, and ancestors who blazed trails and continue to do so! Evans believes it is the responsibility of the Arts to rediscover existing connections within humanity.
Courtney Swain
Noisefloor - Composer
Courtney Swain is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, composer, and sound artist from Japan, currently living outside Providence, RI. A friend recently described her as "one of the most creative, artistically fearless folks I’ve met, and I love the soundscapes she conjures, always filled with surprises.” Courtney's artistic output reflects a broad range of influences and inspiration. Recent highlights include: an arrangement of Philip Glass’s “Mishima” string quartet for Bob’s Burger’s S13.E10 “The Plight Before Christmas,” “notes to myself,” an album of improvised introspections, recorded entirely within Habit, a Chase Bliss effect pedal, released from Chase Bliss Records, and “Noisefloor”, an upcoming evening-length piece commissioned by Palaver Strings and Little House Dance of Portland, ME (premiers December 2023). She was a 2022 Artist in Residence at Akiyoshidai International Arts Village in Japan and a 2021 Fellow for the Rhode Island Foundation’s Robert & Margaret MacColl Johnson Fellowship.
Tied together by her unmistakable voice, Courtney’s discography includes six studio albums released with Bent Knee, and a prolific collection of albums, EPs, compositions, and multimedia pieces. Beyond her own work, Courtney’s voice has been featured in Mortal Kombat 11 (listen for the Fatality cue!), Bob’s Burgers, as well as studio releases by HAKEN, Car Bomb, Childish Japes, Gatherers, and others.. A decade of touring has taken Courtney to perform all over North America, Europe, and her native country, Japan. Bent Knee has shared the stage with Leprous, HAKEN, The Dillinger Escape Plan, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, Thank You Scientist, and has performed at Audio Tree, Day Trotter, Campbell Bay Music Festival, Gouveia Art Rock, FIMAV, BeardFest, ProgDreams, Burg Herzberg Festival and more.
After training as a classical pianist in her youth, Courtney graduated from Berklee College of Music as a vocalist with a dual degree in Classical Composition and Contemporary Writing & Production. A Rhode Islander since 2015, Courtney also works as a pianist/keyboardist and music director for Trinity Rep, Brown University, Theater by the Sea, Wilbury Group, University of Rhode Island, and others. Splitting her time between touring, composing, teaching, and more, her interests beyond music include plants, gardening, mystery novels, home improvement, photography, drawing, meditation, yoga, cooking, fermentation… a list that is always growing!
Heather Stewart
Noisefloor - Dancer / Choreographer
Heather Stewart she/they is a contemporary choreographer, writer, and the founder/director of little house dance -- a company established on principles of democratic process, mental wellness, and high caliber dance performance in service of a strong arts ecosystem in Maine. The organization exists to challenge the notion that quality dance can only arise in cities that have already been categorized as designated dance hubs.
Born in Canada, Heather grew up across the South Pacific where she lived in Australia, Papua New Guinea, and Indonesia. After attending Etobicoke School for the Arts in Ontario, Canada and later graduating from the London Contemporary Dance School (MA Dance Studies, choreography focus) she went on to live and work in Montreal, London, and Boston before making Portland, Maine her long term home in 2019.
Heather has been making original work for live performance since 2012. Her choreographic process has been fostered by: Portland Ovations, The Boston Center for the Arts, New Movement Collaborative, Espace Marie Chouinard, The Place, Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV), Earthdance, Tufts University, Maine Mechanics Hall, Casco Bay Movers, The Boston Conservatory at Berkeley, and Tanzzentrale der region Nürnberg. She has presented internationally at several performing arts festivals including State of Play, Conduit Dance+, The Expanse Festival, The Saint John Contemporary Dance Festival, Resolutions!, Beta Publica, and HubWeek Boston.
Over the past decade, she has garnered recognition and financial support from SPACE Gallery, The Maine Arts Commission, The New England Foundation for the Arts, The Boston Foundation, The Canada Council for the Arts, and The Somerville Arts Council. In 2015 her work was shortlisted for the Deustche Bank Award for Creative Enterprises.
Heather’s dances have been described as “openhearted and palpab[ly] vulnerable” (Camille Howard), “personal, sensitive narratives” (Emilyn Claid) characterized by “exacting, challenging, and physically demanding choreography” (David Henry). She has been recognized for her complex dance/sound intersections. For seven years, Heather developed her work in collaboration with the late Marc Bartissol aka dull. Together they worked from a shared vision of performance as a place of refuge from the outside world. Their ongoing partnership was defined by a rigorous, generous, and reciprocal collaboration in which the music and choreography were given equal space and importance. Formerly a Montreal-based DJ named little house, Marc’s name remains imprinted on Heather’s company in remembrance of his lasting contributions to the work.
little dance house
Seasonal Collaborator
little house dance is an artist-led contemporary dance company based in Portland, Maine on traditional Wabnaki land. Founded by Heather Stewart in 2020, little house dance’s current mission is to build an artistic platform based in practices of partnership, equity, good working conditions, ideation and collaboration, and mindfulness of craft. After several years of working as an independent artist Heather established little house dance in order to formalize her collaborative relationships with other dancers, musicians, visual artists, and writers. From creation to performance, little house dance’s work is rooted in collaboration. As a small project based company, little house dance is committed to creating healthy, sustainable employment opportunities for artists. The company’s aim is to foster a democratic working environment where the individual voice is as important as the collective.
As dance is inherently a social art, little house’s work forges new community connections and partnerships in dance programming and production in regional and national spheres. little house seeks to build mindful working partnerships with venues, presenters, audiences, patrons, and production, particularly in Maine. Our aim is to create meaningful and deeply physical dance experiences with the people around us.
The company’s dance work engages both formal shaped based movement, and a more sensitive, human approach to performance. Exploring human disorder and melancholy, little house dance draws viewers into dark and intimate worlds of movement ritual and duration. Movement vocabulary is created and performed with a clear, rigorous approach to choreography and performance presence. little house dance creates work for audiences who are invested in seeing performance that stretches the boundaries of movement potential while touching on experiences that are uniquely human.
little house values the dynamics of the creative process and an artist’s need for dedicated time, space, money, and artistic growth in concert with other artists. The company has a particular interest in the prioritization of mental health and meeting the needs of neurodivergent artists and individuals living with mental illness.
Fredy Clue
Nightingale in a Tree - Nyckelharpa / Composer / Arranger
Fredy Clue’s music digs deep into people’s hearts and helps them make room for healing and love. After ten years of experience performing on stage, Fredy Clue appears with their own music arranged for Palaver Strings. Fredy meets the audience with their Nyckelharpa and voice, instruments and beats. Together they lift Swedish folk music into a queer world of poetry and emotions. Together with the team of the small and legendary Kakafon Records from Sweden, Fredy released their debut EP on June 2, 2023.
Jamie Oshima
Nightingale in a Tree - Guitar
Jamie Oshima is a multi instrumentalist, producer, songwriter, and filmmaker from the woods of Maine. At the age of fifteen he began touring the continent playing guitar and piano for contra dances and festivals. Now in his twenties and working on the fifth album of the indie pop band Oshima Brothers, Jamie still gets lost in creative projects and is often late to meetings with his brother.
Attacca Quartet
Between Us - String Quartet
Two-time GRAMMY-award winning ATTACCA QUARTET are recognized and acclaimed as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment — a true quartet for modern times. Gliding through traditional classical repertoire to electronica, video game music and contemporary collaborations, they are one of the world's most innovative and respected ensembles.
Passionate advocates of contemporary repertoire, the quartet are dedicated to presenting and recording new works, with their two releases 'Orange' and ‘Evergreen’ in collaboration with Caroline Shaw winning the 2020 and 2023 GRAMMY awards for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
In 2021, the quartet announced their signing to SONY Classical, releasing two albums, 'Real Life' and ‘Of All Joys’, that embody their range as a contemporary quartet at home in the studio and on stage. 'Real Life' explores collaborations with leading electronica artists like TOKiMONSTA, Dedalus, and Squarepusher, and 'Of All Joys' unites the music of the Renaissance with modern minimalist giants Philip Glass and Arvo Pärt.
The quartet continue to perform in the world's best venues and festivals, with highlights including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Sala Sao Paolo, SFJazz, Paris’ Théâtre de la Ville, Palau de la Musica, Concertgebouw Bruges, De Doelen, Kings Place, and Amsterdam’s String Quartet Biennale.
ATTACCA QUARTET was formed at the Juilliard School by Amy Schroeder and Andrew Yee in 2003.
Matthew Brady
Lullaby & Lifesongs Project Engineer - Producer
Matt Brady is a music producer and audio engineer living in the Boston area. He picked up guitar at age 11 and found an interest in the recording process soon after. He's produced projects with genres that range as widely as his musical taste – from electronic to pop to classical. In addition to engineering, he's also a keen songwriter, garnering praise for his personal projects as well as collaborations. He has worked with Palaver Strings on both the Lullaby and Lifesongs projects since 2016 and deeply enjoys how meaningful the musical experience is for everyone involved. Aside from making music, he enjoys sushi, time spent in record stores, and propagating plants to the best of his ability.