Biography
Marina Alba is breaking norms and boundaries as a multi-instrumentalist and multi-disciplinary artist and musician.
Marina Alba is a violinist and vocalist whose work moves freely between composed repertoire and improvisation. Her approach is rooted in curiosity: how a classical phrase can breathe like a standard, how a jazz lyric can hold the precision of a score, and how spanish music is rooted in the synergy and collaboration of languages and cultures.
One life, two instruments.
Born in Madrid into a family of musicians, Marina Alba is a New York City-based violinist, jazz vocalist, improviser, and educator whose artistic identity transcends stylistic boundaries. Equally at home performing solo violin repertoire, chamber music, jazz standards, Brazilian music, flamenco-inspired improvisation, and contemporary works, Marina has developed a voice that is uniquely her own—one that refuses to separate genres and instead embraces music as a single, interconnected language.
Music was never confined to one tradition in her home. Her mother, a classical pianist and chamber music professor, and her father, originally a classically trained cellist, built careers that eventually expanded into tango, flamenco, and world music. Growing up surrounded by rehearsals, chamber music, opera, jazz records, tango, and flamenco instilled in Marina a belief that artistic curiosity should never have boundaries.
She began playing piano instinctively as a toddler and was singing before she could read. At the age of five she joined Madrid’s Children’s Choir, performing regularly at Madrid’s Teatro Real in productions including Tosca, Boris Godunov, Persephone, and Król Roger. Two years later she picked up the violin for the first time. Within minutes of her very first lesson, she was already reading music from the page, convincing both her teacher and her parents that they had found the right instrument.
Although she ultimately chose to pursue violin professionally, singing never truly disappeared. Years later, while auditioning for Indiana University, Marina wandered into a jazz jam session that unexpectedly rekindled a lifelong fascination with jazz she had carried since childhood, inspired by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, and Stéphane Grappelli. What began as curiosity soon evolved into an essential part of her artistic life.
Biography
Marina completed her Master of Music in Violin Performance at the Manhattan School of Music as one of only six violinists selected for the prestigious Zukerman Program. She studied under the legendary Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec as the recipient of the Manhattan School of Music International Advisory Board Full-Tuition Scholarship. Following her graduation in May 2026, she is now continuing her studies at Manhattan School of Music in the Professional Studies Certificate program, again studying with Pinchas Zukerman on a full scholarship.
Prior to moving to New York, Marina graduated summa cum laude from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music with a Bachelor of Music in Violin Performance and a Minor in Jazz Studies. At Indiana she studied violin with Grigory Kalinovsky, chamber music with the Pacifica Quartet, pedagogy with Mimi Zweig and Brenda Brenner, jazz voice with Rachel Caswell, jazz performance with Sachal Vasandani, and Latin jazz under Grammy Award-winning trombonist Wayne Wallace. She also served as Concertmaster, Assistant Concertmaster, and Principal Second Violin of the IU Philharmonic Orchestra under conductors Thomas Wilkins and Arthur Fagen.
Rather than viewing classical and jazz as separate musical worlds, Marina has embraced both disciplines simultaneously throughout her career. While pursuing rigorous classical violin studies, she became the only non-jazz vocal major admitted to Indiana University’s jazz voice studio, later performing as the featured vocalist—and violinist—with the Latin Jazz Ensemble. This dual artistic path has continued in New York, where she is increasingly recognized both as a concert violinist and as a jazz vocalist and improviser.
Her professors have consistently encouraged this versatility. Pinchas Zukerman and Patinka Kopec have enthusiastically supported her work as a jazz singer, often remarking that her vocal artistry enriches her violin playing. Marina believes that improvisation, phrasing, breath, and storytelling belong equally to both traditions, and she seeks to dissolve the perceived boundaries between classical performance and creative music-making.
As a classical violinist, Marina has appeared in many of the world’s distinguished concert venues, including Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the Berliner Philharmonie, Kulturpalast Dresden, Neidorff-Karpati Hall, Merkin Hall, the National Auditorium of Music in Madrid, Moritzburg Castle, the Musical Arts Center at Indiana University, Jamestown Arts Center, Palacio de Cibeles, María Cristina Hall in Málaga, and the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C. She has appeared as soloist with the ZHdK Strings Orchestra under Rudolf Koelman, the Granada Classical Orchestra, and the Eduardo del Pueyo Festival Orchestra, and has toured throughout the United States as part of the Heifetz on Tour Residency (HEIR). In February 2026 she made her solo debut at Carnegie Hall, earning critical acclaim from New York Concert Review for her “beautiful tone,” “musical intelligence,” and “refinement.”
Her chamber music career has likewise flourished. In 2026, Marina and her string quartet won First Prize in the Manhattan School of Music Benjamin Lees Concerto Competition. As winners, they will perform Benjamin Lees’ Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra with the OPUS 130 Sinfonia under the baton of Leonard Slatkin in New York.
Beyond the classical stage, Marina has become an active presence in New York’s jazz scene. She has performed as lead vocalist with the Manhattan School of Music Big Band at Dizzy’s Club and collaborated with artists including Benny Bennack III, Tony Glausi, Lenny White, Aimee Nolte, André Mehmari, and José el Marqués. Her performances have been heard at venues including the Aman Jazz Club, Club Maxime’s, So & So’s, the Buskirk-Chumley Theater, and the Hirshhorn Museum. In 2025 she appeared at Rome’s Villa Lazzaroni Festival with a trio featuring flamenco cellist José el Marqués, guitarist Antonio Campos, and Brazilian pianist André Mehmari.
Marina’s artistic accomplishments have been recognized through numerous awards and scholarships, including First Prize at the Forum Musikae International Violin Competition at age thirteen, the Adolfo Salazar End of Studies Award, the Moritzburg Festival Chamber Music Prize, the Presser Foundation Undergraduate Scholar Award, the Arkady Fomin Scholarship Foundation Opportunity Award, the Young Premier Artist Scholarship, the E. H. Claus Scholarship, the Madrid Regional Government Scholarship for International Study, and consecutive AIE High Specialization Scholarships. During her undergraduate studies she was also named a Founders Scholar and was a member of Indiana University’s Hutton Honors College.
She has participated in prestigious international festivals including the Heifetz International Music Institute, Moritzburg Festival Academy, Pinchas Zukerman Young Artists Program, Miami International Piano Festival Academy, Silkroad Summer Sessions, Ascent International Music Festival, Málaga Clásica Festival, and Keshet Eilon. She has also worked in masterclasses with internationally acclaimed artists including Mihaela Martin, Vadim Gluzman, Sarah Chang, Rudolf Koelman, Ingolf Turban, Krzysztof Węgrzyn, Jesús Reina, Anna Margrethe Nilsen, and Zorik Tatevosyan.
Alongside performing, Marina maintains an active teaching career in New York, where she teaches private violin and chamber music students while serving as a Practice Partner for the Manhattan School of Music Precollege Division. Drawing from her extensive pedagogical training with Mimi Zweig and Brenda Brenner, she combines traditional violin instruction with collaborative music-making, creativity, and healthy technical development.
Whether performing Bach, singing a jazz standard, improvising over Brazilian rhythms, or collaborating with flamenco musicians, Marina approaches every performance with the same philosophy: music is not defined by genre but by communication. Her work continues to explore the meeting point between classical tradition, jazz, Brazilian music, flamenco, improvisation, and contemporary creativity, seeking new ways to connect audiences through authenticity, spontaneity, and artistic curiosity.