Ms. Martono is working towards her Bachelor of Music as a scholarship recipient at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University under the tutelage of Paul Kantor, who continues the pedagogical lineage of Dorothy Delay. During her time at Rice University, she became one of the first music majors in the history of the university to develop and teach a college-level course detailing the transformative benefits of music on the brain and accessible to every student regardless of their major. Ms. Martono also founded and directed multiple programs related to arts awareness, including the development of the Music Affiliate Program, serving to bridge the gap between music majors and the rest of the student population while highlighting their importance as artist citizens within the territory of a STEM-dominated campus. While living in Houston, Ms. Martono performed a series of free concerts in collaboration with “The Concert Truck” to underprivileged communities within the greater Houston area.
Ms. Martono continued spreading classical music advocacy during her time at the Aspen Music Festival and School where she served as a full scholarship recipient, the principal of the Aspen Conducting Academy, and an official student ambassador in the summer of 2023.
As a leader within the orchestral community, Ms. Martono previously served as Concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra, Concertmaster of the Aliso Niguel Chamber Orchestra, Principal at the Orange County School of the Arts Symphony Orchestra, Concertmaster of Capistrano Unified School District’s Honor Orchestra, and Concertmaster of the Classical to Rock Orchestra. Ms. Martono is also a prizewinner for numerous festivals and competitions such as the Bellflower Concerto Competition, the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra Concerto Competition, the Grand Prize Virtuoso International Music Competition, the Southern California Philharmonic Concerto Competition, the Satori String Competition, and more. Ms. Martono was invited to perform as a soloist with the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra and the Bellflower Symphony Orchestra in May of 2020 and was scheduled to perform as concertmaster of the Pacific Symphony Youth Orchestra in a concert tour to Vienna and Prague during the summer of 2020.
Before attending Rice University, Ms. Martono attended the Orange County School of the Arts and Chamber Music | OC’s Pre-College Program, where she was a full scholarship recipient from 2017-2020. Ms. Martono has appeared in masterclasses with artists including Augustin Hadelich, Robert McDonald, Julian Martin, Peter Zazofsky, Richard O'Neill, Rachel Barton Pine, and Timothy Chooi. Other notable mentors and coaches include Naoko Tanaka, Cho Liang Lin, Masao Kawasaki, Jeanne Fischer, Norman Fischer, Iryna Krechkovsky, and Kevin Kwan Loucks.
Ms. Martono currently plays on a violin by Ole H. Bryant made in Boston circa 1922.
Armed with a lifelong mission to promote the beauty of classical music on an unprecedented scale, Megan Martono is celebrated for her passion and versatility as a prizewinning violinist, leader, and pioneer of the arts. Ms. Martono has already begun popularizing the genre within her community through performing a series of concerts for over 16,000 audience members as a soloist with the Pacific Symphony Orchestra at age 16 before returning for a second consecutive year to perform a series of eight concerts featuring the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto with PSO. In 2019, she brought her love for violin into international venues, performing in the Royal Albert Hall and the Philharmonie de Paris. Other notable venues include the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and the St. Petersburg Glinka Capella Hall.