PHOTO: Mistral the Minstrel (Ayal Yariv) assures a young fairy (and her parent) that if one plays the piano, they can play any instrument - including this portative organ - at the Oregon Renaissance Faire in Canby Saturday, June 21. (Jenn Director Knudsen for The Jewish Review)
By JENN DIRECTOR KNUDSEN
For The Jewish Review
On a recent day at the Oregon Renaissance Faire, Mistral the Minstrel watches a stream of pirates, kings, queens, vikings, warriors, witches, wizards, and even folks in 21st century street garb wander past.
Mistral the Minstrel, a one-man-medieval band, stakes a small claim between a blacksmith and a textile vendor. There, he toggles between playing one of a dozen instruments from centuries past, eyes trained on the crowd.
“I bring them in with my music, and then I kick off a conversation,” says Mistral, sporting striped breeches, a white tunic, dark-gray vest with metal clasps and a jaunty multi-colored cap.
Striking his hammered dulcimer that reverberates harp-like tunes from the 16th century, he explains that at the Faire – in Oregon and elsewhere around the country – his job is to interact with passersby, snag their interest and invite them along for a musical journey.
Soon, a child wearing fairy wings and elf-shaped ears tentatively approaches. The minstrel, now playing a portative organ, bends to the child’s level. “Do you play piano?” he asks.
“Yes,” she says, cautiously eyeing the hand-held mini-piano and accordion combo.
“Do you want to try playing this?” he asks as the kid steps closer. “If you can play piano, you can play anything.”
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When Ayal Yariv first learned piano at age 8, morphing one day into professional Renaissance Faire musician Mistral the Minstrel was but a pipe dream.
Yet on further analysis, it’s possible to draw a (nearly) straight line from the second-grade boy using music to attract girls’ attention to the literal Renaissance man he is today.
The eldest of four siblings and the son of an American mom and Iraqi dad, Yariv is Jerusalem born, raised and musically trained. In the 70s and 80s, his native city played host during the Passover break to a day camp for all Israelis desiring to learn Renaissance and Baroque music. Instructors from all over the world taught there, Yariv said in a recent interview in a Portland cafe.
He describes a musical idyll.
“We had hours and hours of playing music together and learning by watching others play instruments of the period,” he said of instruments like the recorder, lute, viola da gamba, harpsichord and more. “People planted themselves and just played.”
He went on to study at The Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance High School, where he dreamed of becoming a concert pianist. Until his three-year IDF stint sans instruments took the tune off his keys.
For a while, Yariv felt stuck: “If I’m not going to be a concert pianist, then what can I do?”
Yet he remained tethered to music. While working toward degrees in Musicology and Hebrew Literature from Hebrew University, Yariv became a caregiver of people requiring a gentle touch and a good ear: older adults, people with autism, and those with physical disabilities.
In one facility, a keyboard beckoned. Playing it brought him and his charges joy. Soon he returned to school to become a music therapist.
“Its combination of music and psychological theory improves everyone’s quality of life,” he said. “It’s about using something you have that comes through you to improve other peoples’ lives.”
Soon, his life was about to improve.
One night in 2001, Yariv briefly stopped by an engagement party before heading to work. He knew the bride, and Portland native, Linda Maizels, knew the groom. Shortly thereafter, he and his future wife were thumb-wrestling on a sofa.
The twosome then relocated many times, including to Portland. Here, Rabbi Ariel Stone married the couple in 2005, Ayal taught Hebrew at Portland State University for six years and he regaled crowds as a founding member of Congregation Beth Israel’s Def Schlepper.
“We would not be schlepping if it weren’t for him,” said Ida Rae Cahana, CBI’s recently retired senior cantor.
Around this time, Yariv recalls saying to himself, “I need to be a musician, I need to figure out a way to make it work.”
And he did. Whether living in Long Island, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, or Waterville, Maine.
He took gig after gig, tickling the ivories for high school musicals, in coffee shops, at summer camps, in churches and synagogues, at retirement homes and, today, at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University, a music and dance conservatory in his adopted city of Baltimore.
There, a friend took the couple to the 2021 Maryland Renaissance Festival. At Revel Grove, he met a fellow Jewish musician who invited him to play music he’d composed for harpsichord. Yariv promptly sight-read the notes, leaving his new friend agape.
Yariv has been a Ren Faire obsessive (his word) ever since. The draw is musical and social, much like the musical idyll in which he grew up. Faires foment inclusivity and fun.
“Politics stop at the gate,” Yariv said.
He’s added new instruments like the crumhorn and the ocarina to his repertoire and the alter ego Mistral the Minstrel. (The Mistral is a powerful wind that blows through the south of France; a clever wordsmith won Ayal’s naming contest last year.)
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Yariv’s Renaissance persona was a huge hit at the recent Canby-based Vale of Dunrose that welcomed about 70,000 revelers – and more than 25 musicians – during its 2025 season that ended June 29.
“Mistral the Minstrel is more than a musician,” said Kristin Maher, the Oregon Renaissance Faire’s marketing director. “With every pluck of his instruments and clever turn of phrase, he draws passersby into a shared moment of joy, nostalgia, and connection.”
She added, “Mistral reminds us that music is not just background—it’s a bridge between souls in the realm.”
To catch the roving musician before his return to Baltimore, find him at the Sherwood Robin Hood Festival (July 18 to 20), followed by the Washington Midsummer Renaissance Faire in Snohomish, Wash., (weekends from July 26 to Aug. 17). For more information, visit mistraltheminstrel.com.
A self-described dinosaur who still keeps a hand-written daily calendar, Jenn Director Knudsen has published work in The Boston Globe, The Oregonian, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Forward and HuffPost, among other outlets. Her most recent personal essay is available at The Mother Chapter. Find her on Substack.