Martha’s Musical Background

    Bach was a household icon for my family during my childhood. Every March we hosted Bach Birthday Parties and I was raised with a love of music.  Although I’d studied piano since age five, at times without much enthusiasm, everything changed when I reached age eleven and “met” my first cello. From the start,  I knew I’d found my “medium” in life.  The cello was for me!

     Throughout middle and high school, I played a great deal of chamber music and participated in school and borough-wide orchestras. At Bennington College I majored in music and joined the Vermont State Symphony!  I was playing cello every chance I could.

    Following my college graduation, I spent the year in Paris, studying cello and composition. Upon my return to NYC I launched my own self-styled performing and teaching career.  I earned my Master of Arts Degree in Cello Performance at Brooklyn College. All the while, I was performing in various groups such as a 5 woman chamber ensemble called Mother Chord, and, as mentioned above, with the mandolin-English Concertina-cello trio called Calle Strada Strasse and with the musician that took me furthest around the world-Suni Paz, an Argentine singer/songwriter with whom I played from 1976 to 1997, touring Germany, Mexico, and throughout the U.S.  What a gratifying experience that has been!  Despite Suni’s move to California, we still perform together every year.