Marina Brubaker, violin, was born in Tuscon, AZ into a family of musicians. Her father was a violist, conductor, composer and educator, and her mother was a violinist in the Barcelona Symphony and currently plays viola with the Tuscon Symphony. Marina has music degrees from Wichita State University and Yale School of Music. She began her career in the Fort Worth Symphony and has served as concertmaster of the Grand Rapids Symphony in Michigan. She joined the violin section of the Houston Symphony in 1988 and is currently serving as acting assistant concertmaster. Other family members involved in orchestral playing include a brother in the Minnesota Orchestra and a sister in the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

What is your earliest musical memory?
Music was always a part of our home. I used to go to sleep at night to the sound of my mother practicing her violin. My siblings and I were taken to concerts and even some of my parents' symphony rehearsals from an early age.

What is one of your most memorable moments from your time with the Houston Symphony?
One of my favorite "symphony family" moments took place on a Japan tour. Six of us decided to see what was outside Sapporo, Japan. We rented motorcycles (I was NOT a driver) and got out into the mountains of Hokkaido island. We went over a very high and beautiful pass and ended up in the port city of Otaru, where we ate some unidentifiable sea mollusk at a roadside stand. There was hardly another person on that road and the weather was fantastic!

What are your favorite hobbies?
I am a member of the Houston Polymer Clay Guild and have fun making jewelry and crafty objects. I also need to get my hiking "fix" since I grew up surrounded by mountains and really miss them. So most summers, I play in Wyoming's Teton Music Festival and occasionally am lucky to be joined by a brother or sister.