Bio

Martha was classically trained as a youth, but expanded to jazz and rock as a college student while earning her mechanical engineering degree at Northwestern University. She was active in the Chicago music scene for over ten years, performing with various rock and jazz ensembles including singer-songwriter Kat Parsons, indie rock band The Paper Airplane Pilots, prog rock ensemble Aziola Cry, rock musician Phil Angotti, and gypsy jazz guitarist Alfonso Ponticelli. Martha was also a founding member of Chicago jazz ensemble, the Uptown Strings. She studied jazz theory, improvisation, writing and arranging with David Bloom at the Bloom School of Jazz.

Upon moving to Northfield, MN in 2010, Martha founded ensemble Ile du Berceau, appeared with the Clearwater Hot Club and helped to cultivate community music in southern Minnesota. In 2015, she founded Hot Spot Music, a practice, rehearsal, teaching, event and gathering place for local musicians, known as “your local music incubator.” Martha currently performs with guitar / cello duo, Over Yonder, accordion / cello ensemble Can Duo, and her all-female funk band, Bad Mama.

Through the years, Martha has supported her music with a career in acoustical consulting, followed by project management for museums, performing arts facilities, and renewable energy projects. She is currently the Director of Sustainability at RMF Engineering and lives in Northfield, MN with her loving husband, Nat, and two beautiful children, Olga and Gus.