Martina Leutschacher is a versatile musician and passionate instrument teacher.
Martina came into contact with Irish music at an early age in harp lessons, at the age of
twelve she started to play the tin whistle as part of a workshop with Antonia Dusa Wernig,
followed a few years later by learning to play the uilleann pipes with Mickey Dunne as part
of the first Trad Music Workshop in 2009.
During her classical harp studies at Mozarteum Salzburg and University or Music Nuremberg, Martina repeatedly travelled to Ireland to learn the traditional Irish style of playing the Irish harp, taking part in workshops with Janet Harbison and taking private lessons with various Irish harpists. She also founded the duo, later trio, “Die Sait’npfeifn”, with which she played traditional Irish music, especially in southern Austria.
From 2017-2018, Martina completed a master’s degree in Irish Traditional Music Performance with a focus on Irish harp at the University of Limerick / Ireland, which she completed with “First Class Honors” in September 2018. As part of her master’s degree, she received master classes with well-known Irish and Scottish harpists such as Laoisa Kelly, Cormac de Barra, Michael Rooney, Catriona McKay, Lisa Canny, Triona Marshall and Máire Ní Chathasaigh to name just a few.
Martina moved back to her hometown in Carinthia (Austria) in 2021. She works as an music teacher in individual lessons and group courses for harp, tin whistle and uilleann pipes. Now she performs primarily as a soloist with her Irish solo program: “The New Groove from Ireland”, in which she interprets Irish, Scottish and self-written music on harp, tin whistle, vocals and loop station. In 2023, she started the first Irish Trad Music Session in Carinthia with some friends (a monthly event at Molly Malone’s, Klagenfurt)