Biography

Pauline Martin's 1985 Washington recital captured the Washington Post headline Pauline Martin's Dazzling Debut.  Kenneth Townsend wrote:  "a balanced, colorful and thoroughly engrossing performance . . . rewarded by loud, sustained applause."  The Canadian born pianist continues to earn world-class recognition for her solo and chamber music performances and recordings, and has been the focus of several radio and television broadcasts in the U.S., Canada and Europe.

Ms. Martin has appeared as soloist with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the New American Chamber Orchestra, Florida West Coast Symphony and Orchestra London Canada, among others, with such conductors as Lan Shui, Thomas Wilkins, Leslie Dunner, Yves Abel, Kirk Muspratt, Paul Wolfe, Alexis Hauser, Roselin Pabon, David Katz and Laszlo Gati. An advocate for music of our time,  she has premiered numerous works and has earned high praise from composers George Crumb, Sir Malcolm Arnold, Susan Botti, Lukas Foss, Gary Schocker, Leslie Bassett, James Hartway and others for her dynamic and virtuosic interpretations.   

            Whether stepping in at the last minute to perform the Schumann Concerto with the Windsor Symphony “with grace and poise” (Windsor Star), or tackling such repertoire giants as the Chausson Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet with Pittsburgh concertmaster Andres Cardenes and the Lafayette Quartet  or Schoenberg’s ‘Pierrot Lunaire’ (Oakland University’s ‘Celebrate the Century’ series), “ Pauline Martin thrives on challenges” notes one reviewer.  She is “…a find…  thoroughly accomplished and responsive to the unpredictable demands of performance” (Detroit News). The energy, immediacy and keen attention to stylistic detail which infuse her playing no doubt stem from an early immersion in the realm of chamber music at the center of a musical family.  When barely a teenager, she became sonata partner and accompanist to an entire studio of college violinists; by the time she completed her Masters’ degree at Indiana University, she would solo with an orchestra comprised entirely of her numerous chamber music colleagues in the school. 

            She has since performed collaboratively with virtuosi James Ehnes, David Shifrin, Bonita Boyd, Ralph Votapek, Jeffrey Solow, Emmanuelle Boisvert, Midori Koga, Suren Bagratuni, James VanDemark, Erik Ruske and others, frequently appearing with principal players of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and the Detroit Chamber Winds and Strings.  The Ann Arbor, Aria International, New College (Sarasota), Summer Serenades (Rockville, Maryland), Scandinavian Winter Days (Reykjavik, Iceland), Mackinac Island, Grove, Detroit Symphony Tchaikovsky and Meadowbrook Music Festivals are among her credits. She is currently Artistic Director of  the Pro Mozart Society of Greater Detroit.

In 1989,  Martin formed the St. Clair Trio, which now features Detroit Symphony Principal Geoffrey Applegate and cellist Marcy Chanteaux. The Trio’s compact disc, Hobson’s Choice, received a first round Grammy nomination in 1996.  Described as “magnificent” by Strad Magazine, this Koch International Classics disc features Pauline Martin in solo and chamber works by the Oscar-winning British composer Sir Malcolm Arnold. Old Acquaintances, a Koch CD of works by Franz Waxman, performed by the ‘St. Clair Trio and Friends’, was a winner of the Chamber Music America/WQXR award for outstanding new releases of 2000. The Trio had earned a Motor City Music Award in 1994 for City Sketches, which features works by Detroit composer James Hartway. Similar acclaim has followed the newly formed deMaine-Martin Duo, featuring DSO Principal Cellist Robert deMaine. Veteran pianist Menahem Pressler, impressed by their “beautiful sound, technical expertise and unanimity of conception” declares,  “These two must continue!”

Having served on the faculties of Michigan State, Oakland and Wayne State Universities, she was also appointed Assistant Instructor both at Indiana University, completing Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees with Menahem Pressler, and the University of Michigan, where she earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts under the tutelage of Gary Graffman, Theodore Lettvin and former Artist in Residence Andre Watts.