Tune in to the Musician’s Show on Wednesday, December 13 from 6-9 pm ET for a live interview with pianist and composer Marta Sánchez. Born and raised in Madrid, Spain, Sánchez is active in the contemporary creative music scene in New York City and around the globe. Charting a significant path through her innovative and original music, she has gained significant global recognition.
After finishing her classical training at the Conservatory, she began her academic training in jazz and contemporary music at School of Music Populart, earning a merit-based grant from AIE, the Spanish Association of Musicians. Her first band, Zafari Project, was selected by INJUVE, the Spanish agency for youth, as one of the most promising on the Spanish scene, giving them the opportunity to tour around Spain playing in different Jazz Festivals. Zafari Project won the first price at the international jazz contest Debajazz; Sánchez has also been awarded the first prize at the Jazzargia International Jazz Contest with Javier Moreno Trio and the first prize at San Martin de la Vega Jazz contest with Natalia Calderon Quartet. She is the only musician in Spain who has been selected on three occasions by AECID, the government agency for international development cooperation, to represent Spain at jazz festivals in different countries around South America, Central America and Europe: with her own band on two occasions (2009, 2012) and with Natalia Calderon Quartet (2009). In 2010, she received the “A.I.E. en Ruta” Touring Grant from the Spanish Association of Musicians. In 2011, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, which allowed her to continue her studies at New York University.
As a bandleader, she is currently working with her New York-based quintet with respected saxophonists Jerome Sabbagh and Roman Filiu, her sextet featuring singer Camila Meza, and with the collaborative band “Snackasaurus Flex”, featuring Michael Attias. She is involved in many other music projects as a collaborator, performer, and studio musician, and was recently awarded a MacDowell Fellowship.
