Visit www.martiepstein.com for more information.

Biography

Marti Epstein was born in 1959 in Denver, Colorado and grew up in Omaha, Nebraska. She started studying composition in 1977 with Professor Robert Beadell at the University of Nebraska. She has degrees from the University of Colorado and Boston University, and her principle teachers were Charles Eakin, Joyce Mekeel, and Bernard Rands.

Marti was twice a fellow in composition at the Tanglewood Music Center where she studied with Oliver Knussen and Hans Werner Henze. As a result of her association with Henze, she was invited by the City of Munich to compose her puppet opera, Hero und Leander, for the 1992 Munich Biennale for New Music Theater. She was on the jury for the 1994 Biennale.

Marti has received commissions from the Fromm Foundation, guitarist David Tanenbaum, the American Dance Festival, the A*DEvant-garde Festival of Munich, tubist Samuel Pilafian, flutist Marianne Gedigian, the New England Brass Quintet, Boston Conservatory, Boston University Marsh Chapel Choir, pianist Kathleen Supove, and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Boston. Her music has been performed all over the United States and in Italy, Germany, and China. In April 1998 the San Francisco Symphony under the direction of Alisdair Neale presented the premiere performances of Marti's orchestral work, Celestial Navigation.

Marti's music has been recorded by pianist Kathleen Supove, guitarist Ulf Golnast, and the University of Iowa Brass Quintet. She was a resident at the MacDowell Colony in 1998 and in 1999. She was a recipient of a 1998 Fromm Foundation Commission, and she won the 1998 Lee Ettleson Composition Prize. Marti Epstein is an Associate Professor at Berklee College of Music, where she has taught harmony, counterpoint, and composition since 1991. Marti is currently a co-director of the Boston new music ensemble, Extension Works.

Contact Information

E-mail: mepstein@berklee.edu