Founded in 2014, CHATTERBIRD works to expand classical music through interdisciplinary collaboration, strategic commissioning, meaningful community partnerships, and friendly, accessible concert settings. A chatterbird concert experience will surprise you. In addition to the clarinet, cello, or flute you might expect, you'll hear noisemakers, amplified tables, voices, zithers, bird songs, and electric mandolin. In addition to mainstage programming, chatterbird delivers 2-3 annual community performances that help to reach people who would typically not have the financial resources or take the risk of purchasing a ticket for unfamiliar music. Interactive lessons and curriculum sometimes accompany concert programming, available on chatterbird’s website to strengthen student interaction.

Chatterbird programming includes large-scale concerts, educational engagement programming, composer residencies, and community-focused experiences. We continue to prioritize the music of women, and particularly women of color, whose music is underrepresented in contemporary classical music. Past residences have included collaborations with Leila Adu, Wu Fei, Leyla McCalla, JayVe Montgomery, Robbie Lynn Hunsinger, Brooke Waggoner, Jason Treuting, Christopher Cerrone, and Ted Hearne. 

On our work, Nashville music critic John Pitcher wrote, “The delightful alt-classical group chatterbird has all but redefined Nashville’s classical landscape...” Past commissions include Wu Fei’s Hello Gold Mountain, Leila Adu’s Mahakala Oratorio, and Mark Volker’s Body & Soul: After the Plague. These works have received support from prestigious funders such as NEA, MAP Fund, and New Music USA, as well as a mention in the New York Times and positive press from The Tennessean, Nashville Public Radio, and Music City Review. Nashville Scene’s Best of Nashville awards include "Best Chamber Ensemble" in 2015, “Best Genre-Defying Classical Performance” in 2017, “Best New Classical Composition” in 2019 for Hello Gold Mountain, and "Best Chamber Music Event" for 2020's Virtual Chamber Music Series.

ANNALIESE KOWERT is a multifaceted violinist and violist with an eclectic musical palette. While she comes from a rigorous classical background, she enjoys a diverse array of musical collaborations and likes to pursue projects that she thinks have purpose or “pizazz.” Playing violin this season with the Nashville Symphony, Annaliese is also an active studio and chamber musician. With a strong interest in the music of our time, Annaliese is involved in chamber groups in Nashville and around the country. Locally, Annaliese regularly plays in projects with Chatterbird, Intersection Chamber Ensemble, Alias Chamber Ensemble and is a regular baroque violinist in Music City Baroque. A graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music and a DMA candidate at Stony Brook University, Annaliese has been on faculty at Chattanooga State University and currently maintains a small teaching studio. When not performing or recording, Annaliese enjoys learning about music that incorporates improvisation, bopping around art museums and hiking trips.

Pianist, educator, and lecturer, BRENDAN JACKLIN is dedicated to sharing new sounds and ideas through his music. He has premiered over 50 new works for both solo piano and chamber ensembles, and has commissioned works from composers across the United States and Canada. A special interest of his is performing interdisciplinary and multimedia music, including pairing music with electronics, video, poetry, and dance. Solo recital programs reflect these interests, featuring a blend of traditional repertoire, contemporary music, electronics, and other interdisciplinary elements. Performances have taken him across the United States, including recent concerts in California, Indiana, Kentucky, Maine, Michigan, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Washington. He has also been featured as a performer at a number of festivals, including SPLICE Fest, Ball State’s New Music Festival, Western Michigan’s New Sounds Festival, University of Nebraska-Kearney’s New Music Festival, College Music Society’s Southern Chapter Conference, and NAMM’s Generation Next. Brendan currently lives in Nashville where he teaches at Fisk University as Assistant Professor of Piano. He completed his doctoral studies at the University of Cincinnati's College-Conservatory of Music with Prof. Awadagin Pratt and Dr. Michelle Conda, with cognates in both pedagogy and multimedia music, and completed his masters at Bowling Green State University with Dr. Thomas Rosenkranz and his bachelors at Brandon University with Prof. Megumi Masaki.

MAYA STONE is a faith-filled, Black female classical musician, creator, performer, educator and health coach. Her creative output is filtered through that personal and professional lens. Maya Stone is frequently engaged as a freelance musician around the country. She enjoys performing in several capacities, and serving as a member of Nashville alternative classical ensemble, chatterbird. She has also been fortunate to join the new music group, Bang On A Can, for performance engagements, as well as the group, Alarm Will Sound. And, this will be her second year serving as faculty at the Bang On A Can Summer Festival.

Dr. Stone is a public speaker and educator. Her voice projects from a personal connection of mental, spiritual and physical healing and health. These three focal points are all connected, and benefit from alignment. Her discourse is filled with experience, persistence, hopefulness and a desire for growth. Through her development over the years, Maya has cultivated a flexible perspective. This perspective continues to challenge and be challenged by the world we live in. This informs her approach to speaking and pedagogy. Maya enjoys exploring matters of health and wellness. She loves walking other peoples dogs and dancing out loud. You can find out more about Maya by visiting her social media, Maya Stone Music Studio.

JESSE STRAUSS, percussionist, specializes in chamber music, orchestral music, and improvised music for dance & film. A graduate of Belmont University, he studied percussion under Christopher Norton focusing heavily on keyboard percussion repertoire. As an accompanist and performer, he has worked with Nashville based dance companies Epiphany, FALL Dance, Belmont University Dept. of Dance, Nashville Contact Improvisation, Chinese Arts Alliance, and Tennessee’s Governor's School for the Arts. Solo and chamber music appearances include TEDx Nashville, Sideshow Fringe Festival, OZ Arts, WPLN’s Radio Fest, ALIAS Chamber Ensemble, Memphis Crosstown Arts, Princeton’s Unruly Sounds Festival, Nashville Symphony’s Free Day of Music, and the Pittsburgh New Music Festival. He also performs as an extra section percussionist with the Nashville Symphony. Jesse cofounded Make Music Nashville, a free day of music that brings outdoor concerts and participatory musical activities to neighborhoods around the city. In addition to performing, he has worked with many non-profit arts organizations in various capacities, including Tennessee Performing Arts Center, Nashville Symphony, and Belcourt Theatre. Currently, he writes grants for the Nashville Symphony and a handful of other small arts organizations.