Marina Katz     baroque cello & viols

Marina Katz, a principal cellist with the Israel Camerata Jerusalem, began studying cello at the Emīls Dārziņš High School of Music in Riga, Latvia, with Prof. Eleonora Testelets. She graduated with honors for a bachelor's degree in cello studies at the Rubin Academy of Music in Tel Aviv and completed her master's degree at the Jerusalem Academy of Music and Dance under the guidance of Prof. Emanuel Gruber.

Marina won awards at the Tchaikovsky International Competition for Young Musicians in Moscow in 1992, the Brown-Roger-Siegel Competition for Israeli string players in Jerusalem in 1996, and the Paul Ben-Haim Israeli Music Competition in 1999. She won the America-Israel Cultural Foundation exams for eight consecutive years. In the early 2000s, Marina led the cello section of the Young Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Zeev Dorman and was invited to be the principal cellist in the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra under the baton of maestro Daniel Barenboim. In 2001 she took part at the International Cellist Festival in Riga under the auspices of maestro Mstislav Rostropovich.

Marina performed as a soloist with the Latvian Philharmonic Orchestra, the Latvian Chamber Orchestra, the Moscow Ostankino TV and Radio Orchestra, and the Netanya Kibbutz Orchestra, whose cello section she led from 2002 to 2010. In July 2010, Marina Katz recorded the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra by Tamir Akta with 42 musicians from the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Benjamin Yusupov. In December 2015 she performed as a soloist at the Israel Camerata Beethoven Festival in a recital with pianist Sergei Babayan.

In early 2020, under the guidance of Myrna Herzog, Marina played the viola de gamba solo in Bach's "Johannes Passion" with the ICJ conducted by Andres Mustonen. Since then Dr. Herzog has been Marina's regular instructor on viols and baroque cello.