Zoë Martlew

About Zoë Martlew

Zoë Martlew composes music that moves between worlds: crystalline and raw, comic and sacred, intimate and vast. Her works weave ancient echoes with futuristic soundscapes, drawing on myth, language and archetype to create music that feels both timeless and vividly alive. Album Z (NMC Records) marks her debut release as composer, the first recording devoted entirely to her own music, gathering pieces that chart her lifelong journey through performance, ritual and fearless artistic experiment.

Celebrated in the press as “dazzling, gleefully tawdry, nuanced, beautifully constructed, deeply funny, expertly rendered, and electrifying,” Martlew’s works have been commissioned and performed at major festivals and venues worldwide, including the Aldeburgh Festival, Royal Festival Hall, Opera Holland Park, Cheltenham Music Festival, Linbury Studio at the Royal Opera House, Dark Music Days (Iceland), Tanglewood Music Festival (US), Wigmore Hall, Scherr Forum (US) and the ISCM World Music Days Festival, where she was selected to represent Britain with her work for cello and electronics G-lude. Her music is recorded on NMC, Non Classical, Albany Records and Meridian.

Her music has been championed by leading ensembles and soloists including London Sinfonietta, Birmingham Contemporary Music Group, Camerata Pacifica, Grossman Ensemble (Chicago), Riot Ensemble, Marian Consort, Onyx Brass Ensemble, Nicholas Daniel, Ben Goldscheider, Alessandro Fisher, James Gilchrist, Mark Padmore, Lucy Schaufer, Mark Simpson and Huw Watkins.

Martlew’s path to composition is rooted in a multifaceted performance career. As a composer, cellist, cabaret artist, educator, podcaster and presenter, she has travelled the world as a solo performer and collaborated with renowned contemporary music ensembles, chamber groups, improvisers, film, electronica, pop, rock, dance and theatre companies. She has also created and performed her own one-woman show Revue Z, and appeared frequently on BBC TV and radio, including as a judge on Maestro, Young Musician of the Year and the Eurovision Song Contest.

A passionate advocate for music education, Martlew has mentored young and emerging musicians across continents. Her teaching roles include string tutor at Tanglewood Contemporary Music Festival (US), the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, artistic director of Saigon Chamber Music Festival (Vietnam) and Harstad Strings (Arctic Norway), in addition to coaching for major international composer and young artist programmes and UK conservatoires.

Much in demand as speaker, panel host and concert presenter, she brings her wide-ranging artistic insight to audiences around the world. She studied at the Royal College of Music, Clare College, Cambridge, the Royal Academy of Music and the Chopin Academy in Warsaw.

Zoe Martlew Website