Marina Pacowski

Biography

Marina Pacowski was born in France and is based in Los Angeles. She is a multi-faceted artist: multi-awarded concert pianist, sought after collaborative pianist, and vocalist.

As a pianist, Marina has toured internationally, performing extensively in France, Italy, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium, as well as in the United States where she is currently residing in Los Angeles. Along the way, she has performed and/or lectured at such prestigious venues as Salle Gaveau (Paris), Kursall (San Sebastian, Spain), and major universities in Berlin, San Francisco, Lincoln (Nebraska), the University of Cincinnati (Ohio), and the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. Composers write virtuosic pieces for her, and she has recorded at Greaves Hall in Cincinnati a piano concerto written for her by composer Frank Proto, accompanied by soloists from the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra.

A collaborative pianist and lover of chamber music, Marina was awarded the 2017 “Best Collaborative Music Award” by the International Society of Bassists, in a jury committee that featured legendary jazz bassist Ron Carter. She is also laureate at the Belvedere International Competition in Vienna, Austria, in the category of Opera pianist musical director.

As a jazz vocalist, Marina has performed at the L.A. jazz hot-spots The Jazz Bakery and The Lighthouse and was featured as a guest vocalist for a tribute to guitarist Kenny Burrell at the Catalina Jazz Club. She received a Jazz Excellence Award in 2021 at Feinstein’s at Vitello’s in Los Angeles, alongside other award recipients such as Jacques Lesure, in a ceremony hosted by Rhonda Hamilton of KJazz. Marina was also featured as special guest at Catalina in March 2022 for the Salute to Black Legends, where she paid tribute to Ella Fitzgerald.

Marina Pacowski is a passionate music educator. She was faculty member in France at the Conservatory of Music “Maurice Ravel” for many years prior to her arrival in the US. She now maintains her own private studio in Los Angeles, teaching piano and vocal jazz improv classes. She is also regularly invited to teach clinics and master classes in festivals and music camps in France and abroad. She is lecturer and guest educator for the next Jazz Workshop in Tarnos (France) in August featured as the vocal improvisation and scat teacher. Most recently, she was named vocal mentor for the Bill Green Mentorship Program of the Los Angeles Jazz Society.

Marina Pacowski is contributing musician at the Philosophical Research Society in Los Angeles where she created, performs in, and hosts the concert series “Spirit and Music”, now in its third season, since October 2020.

Her brand-new CD “Inner Urge” on Summit Records features such jazz luminaries as Joel Frahm, John Clayton, Roy McCurdy, Josh Nelson, Jon Mayer, Peter Erskine, Larry Koonse, Carl Saunders, Nolan Shaheed, Bevan Manson, Mark Massey, Mike Gurrola, and Scott Whitfield. The album has been garnering rave reviews and gaining airplay throughout the United States and across the globe. A great official release concert took place at Herb Alpert’s Vibrato Jazz club on April 19th, to an enthusiastic packed house!