Violinist, performer & singer‑songwriter
Violin, Songs & Musical Theatre
Classically trained violinist, ethnomusicologist, singer-songwriter, and theatrical performer. Over thirty years playing her violin across concert halls, contemporary circus shows, urban musical theatre, and international street arts festivals.
About the Artist
Marta Pistocchi is a creative, versatile and original violinist: her work is a constant, passionate search for the endless ways of expressing herself through the violin, creating wonder, magic and beauty.
She graduated from the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan and the Conservatorio di Piacenza, and took advanced courses in baroque violin, harmony and jazz improvisation. Her first great love is the folk music of Eastern Europe, the Balkans and the Roma tradition: after an ethnomusicology thesis on the subject and close ties with many professional Roma musicians, she has played steadily with Jovica Jovic in the Muzikanti di Balval.
She went on to embrace swing and jazz manouche, Arabic and Turkish sounds, tango and world music. She plays in the Orchestra di via Padova, Milan's multi-ethnic orchestra, and founded SwingEst, a band that unites two genres she loves: Balkan music and swing. She works with many ensembles, accompanies singer-songwriters and dance nights, and moves from one genre to another carrying her own very personal baggage of notes, sounds and colours.
In the meeting of music and theatre she found her true calling: she trained as an actress and clown and created a comic-musical one-woman show, the Grand Cabaret de Madame Pistache, discovering that making an audience laugh is as wonderful as making it dance. She is a circus artist with the Italian-French company Circo Zoè, a stage musician for several productions, and a regular collaborator of the historic marionette company Gianni e Cosetta Colla. A street artist out of a love of freedom, she performs a repertoire for solo violin, loop station and tap shoes.
In 2017 she released Sviolinate, a solo album of original music for violin and loop station. In 2020 she became a singer-songwriter: Toponomastica, her debut album, gathers all her influences in its music and lyrics — irony and lightness in syncopated time, urban songs, a musical portrait of the city through the small things that make it up, the details that escape the rush. Toponomastica is also a comic-musical theatre show with Marta Pistocchi and Alessandro Sicardi, directed by Rita Pelusio with dramaturgy by Domenico Ferrari.
Violin Diploma (Conservatorio di Piacenza & Accademia Internazionale della Musica Milano) • Baroque Violin (Istituto di Musica Antica) • B.A. in Ethnomusicology (108/110, Univ. of Milan & Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris III).
Specialized training in theatrical clowning, comic acting, and physical dramaturgy with Jean Mening, Alessandra Faiella, Rita Pelusio, and Philippe Radice.
Diploma in Music Therapy (CEMB Milan / MAPP Paolo Pini). Conservatory of Milan & Casa della Carità mentor for young Roma musicians; Orchestra dei Popoli; theatre-music workshops at ICAM Milan.
Performs across classical, baroque, swing manouche, Balkan, tango, Arabic/Turkish modes, electronic LED violin, and original Italian theatre-song across Europe, South America, and India.
Flagship International Touring Production
A surreal, high-energy journey into the world of 1930s Parisian cabaret.
A one-woman musical comedy set in the elegant, smoky atmosphere of a 1930s Parisian cabaret: the Grand Cabaret de Madame Pistache. A musical journey created, performed, danced, and brought to life by Marta Pistocchi, violinist and comic performer.
Armed with a violin, tap shoes, a loop station, a ukulele, and a microphone, Madame Pistache single-handedly brings every guest and character of her cabaret to life: Django Reinhardt and his phenomenal swing orchestra, a full troupe of glamorous chorus dancers, and a dazzling parade of international attractions.
Written & Performed by Marta Pistocchi • Directed by Claudio Cremonesi • Production M&P
Plays from YouTubeMusic, dance and entertainment, with a touch of seduction and a generous dose of madness.
“Grand Cabaret de Madame Pistache” combines clowning, live loop-station violin, tap dance, and physical theatre with very few words. Relying on universally recognizable expressions and blending the local and multiple foreign languages, it enchants adults and children alike in both indoor theatres and outdoor street festivals.
Combining classical violin technique with clowning, Marta Pistocchi challenges the stereotype of the classical and romantic violin. The Paris of the 1930s, with its cabarets and World's Fairs, becomes a creative melting pot reminding us of the joy of broadening our horizons through encounters with other cultures.
Complete Repertoire
From comedic musical theatre and urban busking on a vintage Graziella bicycle
to high-impact LED violin shows and botanical acoustic performances.
If city mice could speak, what would they say about our city? And if they could sing, with what songs would they tell its story?
An imaginative theatrical conference of two eccentric city mice—played by Marta Pistocchi and Alessandro Sicardi—who analyze the rules, contradictions, vices, and hidden poetry of urban life from the ground up. Blending original songs, Milanese teatro-canzone heritage (Jannacci, Fo, Gaber), clowning, violin, guitar, electric upright bass, foot bells, and megaphone.
With Marta Pistocchi & Alessandro Sicardi • Directed by Rita Pelusio • Dramaturgy by Domenico Ferrari • Set & Costumes by Ilaria Ariemme • Distributed by PEM Habitat Teatrali
I've been in a steady relationship with a piece of wood for over 30 years.
A spectacular concert for a one-woman orchestra fueled by swing, Balkan rhythms, blues, funk, and explosive comic energy. Original vocal and instrumental pieces performed with violin, loop station, voice, and ukulele, telling the hilarious love story between a woman and her wooden instrument. Available in an Indoor Theatre version or an agile Outdoor Busker version with battery-powered amplification mounted on a vintage Graziella bicycle.
By & with Marta Pistocchi • Violin, Loop Station, Ukulele, Tap Shoes & Voice • Adaptable like water to any venue
Luminous warrior of light, where classical virtuosity meets electronic innovation.
Armed with a custom transparent LED electric violin and glowing bow, Violed delivers a high-impact visual and musical experience designed to create an unforgettable 'wow' effect at luxury events, conventions, and dinner shows. Performed in evocative 10-minute live sets of epic and electronic music—including her signature electric arrangement of Corelli's 'La Follia'—or live alongside DJs (regularly partnering with DJ Missinred).
Performer: Marta Pistocchi • Couture Costume: Simona Randazzo • LED Engineering: Ewan Colsell • Regular DJ Partner: Missinred
A cascade of flowers and radiant stage presence, celebrating Nature through the sweetness of the violin.
Elegant, solar, and poetic, Naturæ embodies love for Nature in musical form. Dressed in a bespoke botanical gown adorned with cascading flowers, Marta weaves a lush sonic tapestry of international classics, cinema themes, tangos, swing, and timeless evergreens. Ideal for welcoming guests, prestigious receptions, garden venues, and sustainability-focused cultural initiatives.
Performer: Marta Pistocchi • Botanical Costume Design: Simona Randazzo • Custom repertoire upon request
Discography & Original Compositions
From urban songwriting rooted in the great Milanese theatrical tradition to genre-defying solo violin and loop-station explorations.
Toponomastica is a musical tale of the hidden, popular, resilient city—far from glossy clichés. The humanity crowded aboard circular trolleybus line 90/91, street-art murals, an ultra-centenarian oak tree in Piazza XXIV Maggio, and downtown pigeons become the true protagonists of 12 original songs.
Lyrics & Music: Marta Pistocchi • Orchestration & Arrangements: Marta Pistocchi, Mattia Mistrangelo & Massimo Marcer (5) • Mix & Mastering: Paolo Iafelice (Adesiva Discografica) • Photos: Laila Pozzo • Art: Ilaria Ariemme • Design: Paolo Cremonesi. Musicians: Marta Pistocchi (violin, vocals), Alessandro Sicardi (guitar, bouzouki), Stefano Fascioli (double bass), Paolo Zucchetti (drums), Lorenzo Gasperoni (percussion), Nadio Marenco (accordion), Moreno Falciani (flute, bass flute, alto & tenor sax), Alessio Terranova (clarinet), Massimo Marcer (trumpet), Luciano Macchia (trombone), Ashanka Sen (sitar).
Marta Pistocchi's instrumental album shatters the stereotype of the violin confined to classical and romantic canons, revealing its popular, rhythmic, and explosive soul. Original compositions and personal reinterpretations built live with loop-station layering—from Django Reinhardt's 'Minor Blues' to Marta's own 'Funking Violin', crossing swing, Balkan, and groove.
Plays from YouTubeOne-woman musical comedy variety show set in 1930s Paris (dir. Claudio Cremonesi)
Plays from YouTubeMusical-theatre clown duo with Marta Pistocchi & Alessandro Sicardi (dir. Rita Pelusio)
Plays from YouTubeHigh-impact visual & electronic live violin performance
Plays from YouTubeLive electric LED violin & DJ collaboration for events and clubs
Plays from YouTubePoetic acoustic violin performance in botanical couture gown by Simona Randazzo
Plays from YouTubeWritten & performed by Marta Pistocchi from the album Toponomastica
Stage Musician & Ensembles
Beyond her own productions, Marta works as a stage musician, composer and multi-instrumentalist with theatre, circus and puppet companies.
Stage musician and performer in 'Il re anarchico e i fuorilegge di Versailles', written and directed by Paolo Rossi.
Website
Composer and multi-instrumentalist reimagining the stage scores for 'The Adventures of Pinocchio', 'The Snow Queen', and 'Cinderella' since 2015.
Website
Stage musician for Rita Pelusio ('Eva, diario di una costola', dir. Marco Rampoldi), Cinzia Spanò ('Reading Lolita in Tehran'), Giorgia Goldini ('Incipit Offresi'), Dijana Pavlovic ('Rom Cabaret'), plus SwingEst, Orchestra di via Padova, La Crus & Banda Osiris.
Critical Acclaim & Touring History
Reviews in the Italian national press, and performances at street-arts, circus and theatre festivals in Italy, Switzerland and beyond.
With bursts of swing, tango, and Balkan sounds, Marta Pistocchi brings to light a hidden, popular, resilient metropolis seen through the eyes of city mice: 'Theirs is a special gaze that sees beauty in the darkest corners and in the shadows.'
Part stand-up comedians, part street artists, part clowns and always musicians, the two express a gaze that strongly recalls Jannacci's, to whom they rightly pay homage. Likeable, gracious and funny.
Marta Pistocchi leaps, sings, narrates, and deftly accompanies herself on violin, foot bells, sound toys, and megaphone… Music, theatre, and cabaret intertwine in a playful, loving, and irresistible journey.
Direct Booking & Inquiries
Contact Marta directly for international festival bookings, theatre seasons, circus collaborations, or bespoke corporate and cultural events.
booking@martapistocchi.comPEM Habitat Teatrali (Monica Giacchetto)
distribuzione@pemteatro.com · +39 328 737 2332
pemteatro.com
Milan, Italy • Touring across Europe & Worldwide
For Programmers, Artistic Directors & Event Planners
Fast setup, minimal technical footprint, and complete adaptability for outdoor street festivals, indoor theatres, and luxury gala events.
