Martha Mooke — Long Bio (500 words)

Martha Mooke is a Grammy Award-winning, pioneering electric violist/composer, highly regarded for her artistry, music advocacy, and innovative educational programs. A self-described "Creative Instigator" transcending stylistic boundaries, she empowers others to discover their inner creative voice.

Founder and Artistic Director of the Scorchio Quartet, Mooke and Scorchio are featured on David Bowie's Heathen, Trey Anastasio's Live From Princeton and Carla Patullo's Grammy winning album, So She Howls, and perform as resident quartet in the Tibet House Benefit Concerts at Carnegie Hall produced by Philip Glass and Laurie Anderson. She has toured with Barbra Streisand, Andrea Bocelli, Peter Gabriel and Star Wars in Concert, and performed with David Bowie, Philip Glass, Elton John, Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, and Tony Bennett among others. Mooke is featured on Laurie Anderson's recent Nonesuch release, Amelia.

As a musical arranger, she has created charts for Phoebe Bridgers, Maggie Rogers, Debbie Harry, Carly Simon, Sturgill Simpson, Iggy Pop, Sharon Jones and Tibetan musicians Tenzin Choegyal and Techung. Her catalog of works includes solo, chamber, symphonic band and orchestra as well as multimedia, film, theater and ballet scores. She has been commissioned by The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Symphony Space, Arizona State University, Tribeca New Music Festival, Ridgewood Concert Band, University of St. Thomas, Agosto Foundation (Prague), Percussion Plus Project, Musicians Accord, SEM Ensemble, Special Music School High School, Kingwood Oxford School and others.

Collaborative highlights include Beats Per Revolution with beat boxing legend Rahzel, Untold Stories with Joan Miro prize winner visual artist Nalini Malani and Dreaming in Sound with software artist Scott Draves. Her film scoring credits include collaborations with filmmaker and MTV World creator Nusrat Durrani.

Her genre-defying recordings include BUZZ: Music in Harmony with Nature, Enharmonic Vision, Bowing's Cafe Mars, Meditations on Gate, Gate with Tenzin Choegyal and Jesse Paris Smith, and No Ordinary Window, with Grammy winning Producer, Cynthia Daniels.

Mooke received the prestigious ASCAP Concert Music Award for creating and producing ASCAP's new music showcase THRU THE WALLS featuring boundary defying composer/performers. Along with awards from Meet the Composer and Arts International, Mooke has held several Composer Fellowships at the renowned Artist Residency, MacDowell.

Lauded for "helping extend the boundaries in string music and education" (2013 ASTA Kudos Award), Mooke has been a has been a featured speaker at PopTech, SXSW EDU, NAMM/CMS, National and Regional Music Conferences including ASTA, TMEA, Midwest Clinic and NJMEA and on popular podcasts including the Gear Club Podcast.

Mooke, a former Governor of the Recording Academy's New York Chapter, is a longtime Yamaha Artist and Eventide Audio's first Artist-in-Residence. She created and directs the innovative Multi-Style Strings program at New Jersey City University.