About Lysander
Lysander Jaffe
Lysander Jaffe is a violinist, violist, and vocalist based in Boston, equally at home in chamber music, traditional music, and cross-genre collaborations. He has performed at venues such as the Kennedy Center and National Sawdust and on national television in Kosovo, Georgia, and Greece. He holds a Masters in Contemporary Improvisation from New England Conservatory, where he studied styles ranging from free improvisation to klezmer to Hindustani classical music.
Lysander is a violist and Co-Artistic Director of the chamber orchestra Palaver Strings and a founding member of the genre-defying vocal quintet Culomba and Levyosn, a Yiddish/klezmer ensemble. He also appears with the New England Greek Orchestra, Nightingale Vocal Ensemble, Tiny Glass Tavern, and symphony and chamber orchestras around New England.
In 2017, he appeared as a soloist with Revels’ Venetian Christmas Celebration at the Sanders Theatre. He has studied with masters of traditional music in Bulgaria, Kosovo, Greece, Corsica, and Georgia. A two-time recipient of the Massachusetts Cultural Council’s Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Grant, Lysander has developed a specialized knowledge of the violin music of Epirus, Greece.
As a teacher, Lysander is passionate about broadening sonic and cultural horizons, teaching not only repertoire but listening skills and expressive vocabulary. He teaches for SongRoots and Village Harmony, with a focus on polyphonic singing styles from the Balkans and Mediterranean, and has led immersive international music study trips to study these styles. He directs two Boston-area choirs, SingPositive and Boston Harmony.