Martin Andersen, violist and violinist, has been a member of the Grammy-winning New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, that state’s largest arts organization, since 1979. The NJSO performs 125 concerts each season and is based at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark. He is also an active freelance musician in the NY/NJ metro area. As a result, he has had opportunities to travel: three tours to Japan, one to Korea (performing with New York City Symphony at the 1988 Olympics in Seoul), two residencies/tours in Ireland (with the NJSO), and a U.S tour with Tenor Andrea Bocelli. He has also spent his Augusts since 1990 performing both orchestral and chamber music at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Wyoming.

Martin has appeared as soloist with the Hawthorne Chamber Symphony, the Hudson Chamber Symphony, the South Orange Chamber Orchestra, and at the Bedford Springs Music Festival.

Teaching has always been important to Martin’s musical life. Beginning as a tutor to his teacher's younger students while in his teens, he maintains a private teaching studio of violin and viola students of all ages and levels, and specializes in Suzuki Talent Education ("Suzuki Method"). He was Founding Faculty of Preucil School of Music, taught at the Preparatory Division of Brooklyn College, and was on the faculty of Seton Hall University. Currently he is an  Adjunct Teacher of Violin and Viola at Stevens Institute of Technology. He also coaches the Greater Newark Youth orchestra, one of NJSO’s education programs. He has performed and taught master classes throughout New Jersey as a member of the GNYO and NJSO String Quartets, including at Rowan University.

Pestering his parents for a violin, Martin began studies at age eight in Iowa City, Iowa, with Doris Preucil, a pioneer of the Suzuki Talent Education. Switching his performance priority to viola in his teens, he graduated Bachelor of Music Cum Laude from the University of Iowa, and obtained his Master of Music degree from Boston University, studying with Walter Trampler, Eugene Lehner, and William Kroll. Martin spent five summers at Kneisel Hall Chamber Music School where his teachers included Leslie Parnas, Roman Totenberg, Artur Balsam, John Graham, Karen Tuttle, Ani Kavafian, Georgio Ciompi, and Toby Appel. He has also studied privately with Karen Tuttle, John Graham, Joyce Robbins, and Toby Appel, the latter made possible by a three year Mellon Foundation Professional Development Grant.

Martin and his wife, Christina, a floral designer and owner of Christina Andersen Floral Design LLC, live in Hoboken, NJ.