Costa Rican-Spanish violinist Dr. Grace Marín has built an international career as a performer, educator, and scholar. Over more than two decades of professional activity, she has appeared as a soloist, chamber musician, and orchestral violinist throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe. She currently serves as Concertmaster of the Big Spring Symphony Orchestra, Assistant Concertmaster of the West Texas Symphony Orchestra, and a member of the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. She also teaches Musics of Latin America at Texas Tech University, while maintaining an active performing and teaching career.

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An important dimension of Marín’s artistic and scholarly work is her research and advocacy for lesser-known repertoire, particularly music from her native Costa Rica. She earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Texas Tech University in 2025, where she completed her doctoral research, An Annotated Catalogue of Costa Rican Music for Violin and Piano. Her commitment to contemporary music has also led her to commission and premiere works by composers including Carlos Escalante, José Mora-Jiménez, Berny Siles, Marvin Camacho, and Pilar Aguilar.

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As a soloist, Marín has performed with orchestras in Costa Rica, Spain, and the United States. In 2017, she gave the world premiere of Pilar Aguilar’s Mawanda Concerto for violin and orchestra with the University of Costa Rica Symphony Orchestra. In 2026, she appeared as a soloist alongside double bassist Mark Morton in the world premiere of Berny Siles’s Concerto Fantasía: The Girl of the Sea and the Secret of the Whales, a work dedicated to both performers. Her recent international activities have included performances and artistic projects in the United States, Costa Rica, Spain, France, and Italy.

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Chamber music has been an integral part of Marín’s career. She has shared the stage with artists including  Daniel del Pino, John Gilbert, Annie Chalex Boyle, Agustín León Ara, Miroslav Hristov, Chih-Long Hu, Enrique Santiago, Lisa Garner, Kim Walker, Josep Colom, Mark Morton, Amparo Lacruz y Andreu Riera, among others. She was a founding member of Cuarteto Hispano, ensemble-in-residence at the National Theatre of Costa Rica in 2015. Her longstanding collaboration with pianist and composer Pilar Aguilar has included performances in Spain, England, Austria, France, and Mexico, as well as the 2012 album Huellas en el mar, devoted to Aguilar’s music for violin and piano. Marín currently performs with ArtBeat Duo alongside double bassist Mark Morton.

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Marín’s interest in historically informed performance has also been an important part of her artistic development. As a Baroque violinist, she is a member of Syntagma Musicum, an ensemble with which she received Costa Rica’s National Music Award in 2013. With Syntagma Musicum, she has performed throughout Costa Rica and at prominent early-music festivals across Latin America, including the Festival Internacional de Música Sacra in Ecuador, the Festival de Música Religiosa de Popayán in Colombia, the Festival Internacional de Música Renacentista y Barroca Americana “Misiones de Chiquitos” in Bolivia, and the Festival de Música Antigua de Panamá. She has also participated in the ensemble’s recordings De aquí y de allá and Convidando está la noche. Her distinctions include the Andrés Segovia–José Miguel Ruiz Morales Awards in violin and chamber music from the Música en Compostela International Spanish Music Course.

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As an orchestral musician, Marín has served as concertmaster of several ensembles, including the Santa Ana Municipal Symphony Orchestra in Costa Rica, the Symphony Orchestra of the Conservatorio Superior de Música de les Illes Balears in Spain, the Texas Tech University Symphony Orchestra, and the JMJ Orchestra in Madrid. She has also appeared as Guest Concertmaster of the West Texas Symphony Orchestra and has performed with numerous orchestras in the United States, Costa Rica, and Spain, including the National Symphony Orchestra of Costa Rica, the Balearic Islands Symphony Orchestra, the Abilene Philharmonic, and the Amarillo Symphony. In 2026, she returned to the JMJ Orchestra in Madrid, where she coached string sectionals and performed as part of the musical activities surrounding the visit of Pope Leo XIV.

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Teaching is another central dimension of Marín’s professional life. She has taught violin, chamber music, and academic music courses at institutions in Costa Rica, Spain, and the United States, including the University of Costa Rica, Costa Rica’s National Institute of Music, and Texas Tech University. From 2021 to 2025, she served as a teaching assistant in Annie Chalex Boyle’s violin studio at Texas Tech, where she also taught applied violin and chamber music. As a guest clinician and festival faculty member, she has presented masterclasses, workshops, and chamber music coaching in a variety of academic and international settings, including the Naolinco International Music Festival in Veracruz, Mexico, and the Festival Internacional de Música de Cóbano in Costa Rica. In 2026, she joined the faculty of the Clazz International Music Festival in Italy.

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Marín has also played an active role in arts leadership and educational initiatives. She served as Artistic Director of the Agustín León Ara International Music Performance Course in Costa Rica and has organized violin programs, chamber music workshops, and other educational projects. She is the founder and Artistic Director of StringFest Academy, an initiative designed to connect string students with internationally active performers and educators.

Marín completed her undergraduate violin studies at the Hochschule für Musik Nürnberg–Augsburg in Germany, earned a Master’s degree in Musical Performance and Creation from Universidad Rey Juan Carlos in Madrid, and received her Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Texas Tech University. Among the teachers, mentors, and ensembles that have significantly influenced her artistic and pedagogical development are Agustín León Ara, Joachim Schall, Guido Calvo, Annie Chalex Boyle, the Endellion String Quartet, and Cuarteto Latinoamericano.