Palaver Strings Quartet-Beehive Chamber Series present ‘the first course’ a program of critically acclaimed string quartets throughout the ages. It begins with Grazyna Bacewicz’s Fourth Quartet, which was entered into the International String Quartet Competition in 1951 at the behest of the Polish Composers’ Union. It was hugely popular and won first prize by a landslide, cementing Bacewicz’s place as one of the foremost Polish composers of all time. The program continues with Voodoo Dolls by acclaimed living composer Jessie Montgomery. Originally written for a dance company, this piece features influences from west African drumming and elements of improvisation. The performance finishes with Fanny Mendelssohn’s one and only String Quartet in E-flat Major, written later in her life and likely featured at her famous “Sunday Musical Salons” in Berlin.

Featuring: Kiyoshi Hayashi & Jesse MacDonald, violin / Lysander Jaffe, viola / Matthew Smith, cello