Flautist Marya Martin heads Bridgehampton Festival

Internationally acclaimed flutist Marya Martin heads the 26^st season of the Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival on New York’s Long Island with an 12-concert program featuring works by Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssohn, Mozart and Schubert. She co-founded the festival with husband and Manhattan businessman Ken Davidson.

The New Zealand-born and Auckland and Yale University graduate has enjoyed a musical career of remarkable breadth and achievement, balancing the roles of chamber musician, festival director, soloist, teacher, and supporter of musical institutions. She has performed throughout the world in such halls as London’s Royal Albert Hall and Wigmore Hall, the Sydney Opera House, Casals Hall in Tokyo, and other venues in Paris, New Zealand, and Australia.

After becoming the only flutist ever to win top prizes in the Naumburg Competition, Munich International Competition, Jean-Pierre Rampal International Competition, Concert Artists Guild Competition, and Young Concert Artists International Competition– all within a two-year period – Ms. Martin returned to the U.S. in 1980 to make her New York debut and has since appeared as a soloist with major orchestras throughout the US, at leading summer music festivals and chamber music series, and in New Zealand with the NZSO and the Auckland Regional Orchestra. Dedicated to fostering the talents of young musicians, Ms. Martin has been a faculty member at Manhattan School of Music since 1996.

She was awarded the Distinguished Alumni Award from the University of Auckland in 2005, and has given master classes at leading conservatories and music departments throughout the U.S. and New Zealand. She has served on the Boards of Young Concert Artists and the Miller Institute at St. Luke’s-Roosevelt Hospital, and frequently serves as a jurist in leading international competitions.