ABOUT MARTINA SCHWARZ

It wasn’t Martina, aged 13, who was looking for an accordion, but it was her brother’s little Hohner piano-accordion, which, feeling rather untouched, found her and wouldn’t let go of her. 

After finishing her degree in education in 1985 and saying "good bye" to her student life, Martina felt it was time to become serious and let her creative side take over. She has always been a musician and loved performing too. One day she filled in for an accordionist in an interactive circus performance for children when she was asked to join the theatre group "Gatschek's Freunde", with whom she spent a year touring her native Germany with a devised musical before appearing in the renowned Kölner Stunksitzung.

In 1986 she went to Paris to study theatre with Philippe Gaulier and to live in Paris, city of her dreams. During this time she also had accordion lessons with Phillippe Piquot and the accordion took more and more centre stage in her life. Busking over- and underground in Paris, Martina's repertoire of French chansons grew quickly, a genre she has always been touched by since her teens. Her playing also led to more interesting musical theatre work and she started to recognise and nurture the composer in her.

Meeting an Englishman in Paris brought Martina finally to London where she achieved an LTCL diploma in music education and gave birth to two beautiful boys. She has lived and worked here since 1991 as a freelance musician/ singer, performer, composer, workshop leader and teacher.

Martina loves the variety of her work and enjoys writing music for theatre and film, gigging solo, with duo or band as much as hearing kids singing her catchy language learning songs, watching patients' faces lighting up when performing in hospitals and day centres. Music is such a magic communicator and healer.

Martina has appeared in the Arcola theatre (A family affair), Saddlers Wells (Falling about), Purcell room (Bow and Bellows and Beskydy), Brighton Fringe Festival (Bow and Bellows), Spitalfields Festival (Bow and Bellows), Klez Fest London, Komedia Brighton (Freylekh) and she has collaborated with many companies and organisations including:

Greencandle Dance Company, First Framework,  London Bubble Theatre, The New Factory of the Eccentric Actor, Shared Experience, Music in Hospitals, Vital Arts, the South bank centre, ENO Baylis, Stanley Hall Opera, Théâtre sans Frontières and Freshwater Theatre Company.

 

 

OTHER BAND PERFORMANCES

Apart from playing solo Martina also performs in the duo Bow & Bellows, above, as well as in Klezmer band Freylekh, below, and occasionally in Balkan band, Beskydy. She also teaches the accordion and won the composer's competition for accordion in 2006 and 2009.

For further details and to book, please contact Martina Schwarz: Email: info@martinaschwarz.net
Telephone: 07940 572648 (Mobile)