Philip Marten will join The Cleveland Orchestra in August 2026 as Associate Concertmaster, appointed to the position by Maestro Franz Welser-Möst. Previously, Marten served as 1st Assistant Concertmaster of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Acting Associate Concertmaster of the Kansas City Symphony, and a section member of the Kansas City Symphony. He has also appeared as guest concertmaster of the Kansas City Symphony and the Kentucky Symphony Orchestra, and has been on faculty at the Brevard Music Center Summer Festival since 2025.

An active chamber musician, he is a founding member of Red Door Quartet, which works to bring classical music and creative programming to various communities and schools in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. He also firmly believes in the importance of community engagement. During his time in Cincinnati, he has been active with local organizations such as Concert:Nova, The Response Project, Ascent Festival, and is the founder and curator for the Red Door Chamber Music Series. He has participated in many other collaborative projects in concert with David Chan, Cho-Liang Lin, Anthony McGill, Desmond Hoebig, Benny Kim, Scott Lee, Masumi Rostad, and Jon Kimura Parker. As a soloist, he has performed with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Cincinnati Opera, the Kaleidoscope ensemble, and the San Diego Youth Symphony.

Earlier in his career, Marten was Concertmaster of the American Youth Symphony, the USC Thornton Symphony, and the Shepherd School Symphony Orchestra. He was a founding member of several notable chamber ensembles, including Rodin Trio, which earned a fellowship residency at La Jolla Music Society’s Summerfest, and Fairway Quartet, which won fellowships to the Juilliard String Quartet Program, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, and the McGill International String Quartet Academy. Other festivals attended include Music Academy of the West, Kneisel Hall, Aspen Music Festival, Meadowmount School of Music and the Brevard Music Center. He earned a bachelor’s degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Cho-Liang Lin and spent a year at the University of Southern California studying with Glenn Dicterow.

In his spare time, Philip enjoys a keen interest in the sociology of music, composing his own music, occasionally playing video games, and family life with his wife and two children.