Martin Andersen
Violist Martin Andersen has been a member of the New Jersey Symphony since 1979. He is also an active freelance musician in the New York/New Jersey metro area, and has served as Principal Viola of the Hudson Chamber Symphony, the Hawthorne Chamber Orchestra, the Korean Symphony of New York, the Elysian Symphony Orchestra, and the OMPTI Orchestra. These activities included three tours to Japan, one to Korea (performing with New York City Symphony at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul), two residencies/tours in Ireland with the NJS, and a U.S tour with Tenor Andrea Bocelli. He has also spent his Augusts since 1990 performing orchestral and chamber music at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Andersen has appeared as soloist with the Hawthorne Chamber Symphony, the Hudson Chamber Symphony, the South Orange Chamber Orchestra, and at the Bedford Springs Music Festival.
Teaching has always been important to Andersen's musical life; while still in his teens he served as a tutor to some of his teacher's younger students. He maintains a private teaching studio of violin and viola students of all ages and levels, and specializes in Suzuki Talent Education ("Suzuki Method"). He was Founding Faculty of Preucil School of Music, taught at the Preparatory Division of Brooklyn College, and was on the faculty of Seton Hall University. He as also served as Artist-in-Residence at Stevens Institute of Technology, performing, teaching, and coaching chamber music. Presently he is an Adjunct Instructor at Stevens. Since its founding in 1990, he has coached the NJS-sponsored Academy Orchestra, and the Anne Lieberson Ensemble of top Academy string students. As a member of the GNYO and NJSO String Quartets, he performed and taught master classes throughout New Jersey, including at Rowan University.
Pestering his parents for a violin, Martin began lessons at age eight in Iowa City, Iowa, with Doris Preucil, a pioneer of Suzuki Talent Education. Switching his performance priority to viola in his teens, he graduated Bachelor of Music Cum Laude from the University of Iowa, and obtained his Master of Music degree from Boston University, studying with Walter Trampler, Eugene Lehner, and William Kroll. Martin spent five summers at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School, where his teachers included Leslie Parnas, Roman Totenberg, Artur Balsam, John Graham, Karen Tuttle, Ani Kavafian, Georgio Ciompi, and Toby Appel. He has also studied privately with Karen Tuttle, John Graham, Joyce Robbins, and Toby Appel, the latter made possible by a three-year Mellon Foundation Professional Development Grant.
Andersen and his wife, Christina, a floral designer, are long-time residents of Hoboken, NJ.