Laura MARTINEZ

Laura Martinez is a Colombian saxophonist passionate about the connections between music, the body, the arts and humanity. She grew up in a family where music was part of everyday life: her father is a singer and folk musician who performs with orchestras at village celebrations. It was alongside him that she discovered, at an early age, the joy of playing and sharing music, as well as the belief that music can build bridges between people.

After a year of studies in Bogotá, Laura moved to Spain in 2019 to continue her musical training at the Conservatorio Superior de Castilla y León in Salamanca, followed by the Conservatorio Superior de Navarra in Pamplona. In 2023, she joined the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris, becoming the first Colombian and Latin American woman to be admitted to this class. For two years, she had the opportunity to study with Claude Delangle, Nicolas Arsenijevic, Christophe Bois and Jonaatan Rautiola. She is currently pursuing a Master's degree in chamber music there as a member of the Trio Corail, further developing her collaborative work and her approach to listening and collective music-making.

Her musical journey is deeply influenced by contemporary creation and Latin American music. In the summer of 2023, she took part in the Bang on a Can Summer Festival in the United States, a defining experience that transformed her approach to performance. For her, a musician is not simply a performer, but a creator engaged in an ongoing dialogue with other artists.

Since moving to Paris, she has collaborated on numerous projects, including with the Ensemble Intercontemporain on Gérard Grisey's Les Espaces acoustiques. She also performed as a soloist in Ravel's Boléro during the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games and took part in the release concert for Nicolas Arsenijevic's album at Salle Cortot with the Trio Corail. Alongside these projects, she continues to perform internationally as a soloist, notably in Colombia, France and Austria.

In March 2025, Laura recorded a CD with the Spanish quartet Sigma Project, dedicated to contemporary works by Colombian composers, with the support of Banco de la República. The project also included a tour in Colombia, with concerts in Villavicencio and Honda. She also collaborated with the São Paulo Orchestra for the opening of the Bogotá Classical Music Festival.

In 2026, Laura continues her artistic activities on the international stage, particularly in Spain, where she is taking part in several concerts with Sigma Project as part of the FLE Festival in Tenerife and the opening of the Cristóbal Halffter Contemporary Music Festival. In the field of education, she has had the pleasure of teaching at the Conservatoire de Fontainebleau and undertaking several teaching assignments at conservatories in the Paris region, including those in L'Haÿ-les-Roses, Sevran, Pantin and Noisy-le-Sec. She has also given masterclasses in Bogotá and Bucaramanga, Colombia, continuing her commitment to sharing and passing on music across borders.

Among her upcoming projects, she is collaborating with the Navarre Orchestra on a production of Pablo Sorozábal's zarzuela Katiuska. She will also continue her teaching activities through several masterclasses in Spain, including upcoming sessions in Pamplona and Durango.

Now based in Paris, Laura is developing interdisciplinary projects combining music, movement and space, in collaboration with dancers, visual artists and composers. Her artistic practice seeks to bring together the rigour of European tradition with the warmth and rhythmic energy of her Latin American roots — creating music that is alive, sincere, sometimes fragile, and always evolving.