Mari Margaret (Maria Szczepańska) is a versatile Polish artist who combines a diverse concert career as a violinist with interdisciplinary academic and managerial work. She graduated from the Karol Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, where she studied under Professor Adam Musialski and earned a Master of Arts degree. For her outstanding artistic achievements, she was awarded a Rector’s Distinction from the University of Silesia, where she also completed studies in Writing Art as well as Creative Writing and Publishing Marketing. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD at the University of Silesia, focusing on music-literary projects that combine her two greatest passions – writing and music.

Concert Activity

As a violinist, she has performed on prestigious stages across Europe and Asia, including Gewandhaus Leipzig, Philharmonie Essen, Laeiszhalle Hamburg, Die Glocke Bremen, Mozartsaal Mannheim, Prinzregententheater Munich, Messehalle Erfurt, Tempodrom Berlin, and Olympiahalle Munich. In China, she performed as associate concertmaster with a symphony orchestra in venues such as Xi’an Concert Hall, Changsha Concert Hall, Qingdao Grand Theater, Jinwan Grand Theater in Tianjin, and Hangzhou Grand Canal Theater. She has also improvised at the Gewandhaus in Leipzig and at the international HONA Festival in Greece. She has performed with rock legends such as Glenn Hughes (Deep Purple/Black Sabbath), Lita Ford, John Elefante (Kansas), and Randal Hall (Lynyrd Skynyrd).

In search of her own individual path, she began a solo career, presenting original music shaped by her wide-ranging concert experience. She creates improvised, genre-blending compositions, combining classical violin sound with sonoristic effects and live looping. The meaning behind Mari Margaret’s creative identity is reflected in her name. Her middle name, Margaret, means “pearl” – symbolizing subtle beauty that emerges through process and often remains hidden at first glance. Mari, a modern form of the traditional name Maria, expresses a rootedness in classical tradition while remaining open to transformation and new, uncategorized creative spaces. It evokes gentleness, timeless beauty, as well as the depths and the sea – the birthplace of the pearl.

She defines her mission as creating music beyond boundaries – music that touches emotions and carries deeper meaning. Her concerts are interwoven with original spoken word, which enters into dialogue with the music, guiding listeners through journeys across various artistic landscapes. Her repertoire includes chamber and solo performances – classical, contemporary, and meditative.

Mari Margaret remains open to collaboration and expresses readiness for conceptual work on musical events, drawing on her experience as a music manager.

Writing & Academic Work

Maria Szczepańska is currently developing her academic career as a doctoral student at the University of Silesia, where she researches music-literary projects that combine her two main passions – music and writing. She graduated with distinction from the BA programme in Writing Art and the MA in Creative Writing and Publishing Marketing at the Faculty of Humanities at the University of Silesia. She is a recipient of the Rector’s Distinction for Artistic Achievement.

Her body of work includes not only artistic publications but also critical, popular-scientific, and scholarly texts, published in journals such as Ruch Muzyczny, Opcje, Śląskie Studia Polonistyczne, Academic Journal of Modern Philology, and the Comparative Projects series (Universitas Publishing House).

She received a PROM (NAWA) scholarship, through which she conducted research in London in collaboration with the University of London. She has presented at an academic conference at the University of Wrocław (2024), as well as at a conference held in Barcelona, organized by the International Academic Forum, in collaboration with the University of Barcelona and the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka University (2025).  She also teaches creative writing at the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Silesia.

PR & Music Management

As a Music Manager, Mari Margaret (Maria Szczepańska) specializes in the promotion and production of artistic events. For many years, she has been actively involved in creating and co-producing cultural projects in Poland and across Europe. She has collaborated prestigious institutions such as the Vienna Philharmonic, Salzburger Festspiele, Die Angelika Prokopp Sommerakademie der Wiener Philharmoniker, and the Krzysztof Penderecki European Centre for Music in Lusławice.

She has organized and produced concerts in esteemed venues such as the Polish Radio Concert Studio in Warsaw and St. Elisabeth Church in Berlin. Her media collaborations include Polish Radio Channel 2 (Dwójka), Ruch Muzyczny, and numerous radio and TV stations, including Radio Kraków, Radio Katowice, TVP Kultura, TVP Info World, and TVP Katowice.

She was responsible for the production of concerts by world-renowned jazz violinist, Adam Bałdych, in Poland and Europe, contributing to the promotion and premieres of his album Portraits. As a PR Manager, she collaborated with SONORA Music and Malke Music Management, as well as with the International Festival of Early Improvised Music All’Improvviso. She participated in the implementation of the EU program S-EEEMERGING+ and the promotion of All’Improvviso publications. She is co-creator and Project Manager of the SEN TUWIMA project by the Jasiek Piwowarczyk Group.

Mari completed the certified Music.Multimedia.Management programme, organized by the M. Karłowicz Philharmonic in Szczecin in cooperation with the Norwegian festival Fjord Cadenza and the Center for Contemporary Art TRAFO. As part of the programme, she attended lectures, talks, and workshops led by top professionals from leading labels, cultural institutions, and concert halls around the world. Additionally, she has completed numerous training in digital marketing and social media management. Mari also collaborated Apple, serving as an Ambassador for the iStudies programme.