Martina composes solo and ensemble pieces for the stage, often for productions she is also involved in as a musician and performer. She also composes for festivals, film projects and choirs. As a recipient of the Britten-Pears Foundation’s Creative Retreat, she has recently enjoyed the opportunity to concentrate fully on composing.
Martina is an associated member of the Natural Voice Network and one of her songs features in their recent compilation This Room Sings. Martina’s choral compositions have also been performed at festivals such as the Totally Thames Festival (Sing for Water) and The Big Data Sing (UCL) and in performances with the London Bubble Theatre and the New Factory of the Eccentric Actor.
Martina’s vocal score for the three witches in a RADA production of Macbeth (2020)
The Big Data Sing: a song cycle commissioned by UCL Culture in 2017
“…Throughout the evening, the Big Data Choir performed a number of big data related renditions, composed and conducted by Martina Schwarz, in the majestic Grant Museum of Zoology.
Songs about the opaque and mysterious nature of cloud storage solutions, and the ridiculous number of zeros associated with various units of data storage (yottabyte, anyone?) were among the most amusing hits, and provided a welcome respite from the mind-boggling topics being discussed…
All in all, Big Data Sing was one of the highlights of the Transformative Technologies Festival. The mixture of academic discussion, debate and music proved to be a hit, and the audience members went home with enhanced understanding of a defining feature of the modern world: big data.” Excerpt from the “Big Data Sing” report by Oliver Patel (UCL Culture 08/17)
‘L’eau de l’eau’: vocal composition for mass choir, performed at the Totally Thames Festival Sing for Water (Water Aid) 2017
Martina is currently composing for “Unlocking Life” a community dance & song project in collaboration with Greencandle Dance Company, in association with studio 3 arts in Dagenham/ Barking, premiering on 14th August 2021 in Dagenham/ Barking, venue tbc.
‘Lost Hero’ in Abney Park Chapel
Listen to Martina’s award-winning accordion compositions and theatre music:
Martina’s Compositions on Soundcloud
Gramophone, soundtrack for The Red Cabbage Cafe theatre production
Gritz, soundtrack for The Red Cabbage Cafe theatre production
The old one
Rapid Eye Movements (1st prize in the National Accordion Organisation’s 2009 Composer’s Competition)
Tzigane
Sweet Trouble (1st prize in the National Accordion Organisation’s 2006 Composer’s Competition)
Film music:
Stone Soup with original music by Martina Schwarz, is a retelling of the classic European folktale by puppeteer/ artist Bronia Evers (One Moment in Time). Watch it on the Little Angel Theatre YouTube channel
Die Konspirantinnen (Conspirators): Polish Heroines in Resistance 1939-1945 (88 mins, 2006). A film by Paul Meyer.
“A cinematic documentary about the survivors of a women’s camp based in North Germany in which the Germans put a number of Polish women who took part in the Warsaw Uprising. Interviews with various survivors who talk about their lives and experiences in the camp and live in exile after liberation as many did not want to return to a Poland that now had a Soviet-style regime.” – BFI Buy on Amazon UK