Heather Martin Bixler

Heather Martin Bixler is a classical violinist and Irish fiddler whose playing has been described by critics as "emotionally riveting" and "astonishingly musical and sweet". A graduate of Indiana University, The Juilliard School, and the University of Memphis where she received a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree, she has performed in many major concert halls, such as Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, and Musikverein in Vienna. As a recording artist Bixler was a featured soloist on the Grammy nominated CD Forty Acres and a Burro (Zoho Music, 2011). She also can be heard on Auction Project also on the Zoho Record label which merges traditional Irish tunes with jazz. This recording has been praised in the press for its innovation and excellence in its emotional content and technical display. Auction Project was awarded four stars in Downbeat Magazine in January 2011, and was chosen as Best Fusion CD of 2010 in the Irish Echo. Alex Henderson wrote in ALLMUSIC that "...this is an intriguing effort that lovers of experimental world jazz shouldn't overlook."

In 1992 Bixler won a first violin position in the Orquestra Ciutat de Barcelona in Spain and since then has held concertmaster positions with South Dakota Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de la Mineria in Mexico City, and Garden State Philharmonic in New Jersey. In New York City, among the orchestras that Heather has worked she was also a substitute violinist with The New York Philharmonic, New York City Ballet, American Symphony and many Broadway show orchestras. In addition, she has appeared on such singers’ videos as Maria Carey, Shania Twain, Jewel, and Donna Summer, including an appearance on the Rosie O'Donnell Show with the Trans-Siberian Orchestra.

As an Irish musician, Bixler won the bronze medal for the senior slow airs at the Fleadh Cheoil na hÉireann in Letterkenny, Donegal Ireland in 2006. Currently, Bixler teaches private Irish music lessons and performs regularly with musicians such as Donie Carroll, Ciaran Sheehan, and Gabriel Donohue as well as being the guest on several prominent Irish musicians’ recordings.

Pursuing her interest in studying the effect that music has on the brain, Bixler completed a Bachelor of Arts degree in neuroscience at Columbia University where she was awarded the Jennifer A. Pack Prize for excellence in the study of Neuroscience and Behavior. Followed her degree, Heather worked in a lab at Columbia University Medical Center researching pesticides and their effect on Huntington’s Disease. Upon completion of the Huntington’s experiment, Heather has returned to music full time, teaching and performing both classical music and traditional Irish music in New York City. Her passion to explore how music is processed in the brain on a molecular level continues to provide collaborative research projects and inform her teaching methods.