Marta Arpini

Marta Arpini is a singer, songwriter and composer from Crema (Italy), currently living in Amsterdam (NL). From 2014 to 2017 she studied jazz vocals at Civici Corsi di Jazz in Milano, where she graduated with the highest grade. At the same time she studied Modern Literature at Università Statale degli Studi di Milano. In January 2016 she won the Audience Award in the national competition “Chicco Bettinardi” for young Italian jazz talents. Marta specialized in jazz vocals with a master program at Conservatorium van Amsterdam (2017-2019). 

Marta's star is rising thanks to an original mix of indie, folk, chamber pop and alt jazz. Her songs surprise you time and time again because of the lyrical and musical angles; sometimes playful, sometimes sweet and fragile, but always seductive. At age twenty two, Marta moved to Amsterdam, The Netherlands, to attend Conservatorium van Amsterdam and finish her academic career in jazz.

Marta's debut album "Forest Light" (2019) was nominated for the prestigious Edison Jazz/World Award 2020, the "Dutch Grammy". On her sophomore album, "I Am a Gem" (2022), Marta is exploring new sounds and orchestrations, diving deeper into her love for songwriting and into the alternative pop and folk universes. With “I Am a Gem” Marta Arpini received her second Edison nomination. 

Marta also actively collaborates with different bands and creatives, both in the Netherlands and in Italy, such as Fuensanta, Radio Trapani, Laura Polence, Molino, Floris Kappeyne's Echo, Alistair Payne, I Am a Fish and more. In 2021 and 2023 she toured with Louis Cole & Metropole Orkest in the Netherlands. 

Marta’s songs simultaneously carry innocence – a sort of candor, a joie de vivre – and a profound sense of self, a propensity to in depth introspection and expression of a wide spectrum of emotions, from the brightest, lightest ones to confronting and mysterious feelings. Marta taps into the heterogeneous sources of inspirations and memories that are the foundation of her musical sensitivity: from folk to rock, Elliott Smith, The Beatles, Andy Shauf, Jon Brion, Adrianne Lenker, Chris Weisman, Tōth, Wilco… Marta’s determined journey into the indie universe is equipped with a predilection for surprising harmonic turns, unconventional forms and a love for tender sounds, tape-y timbres, soft, crystal clear vocals, dusty guitars, misty horns and occasional grand openings and intense passages.

The complexity of Marta’s songs never gets in the way, but enhances the beauty of how easy it is to listen to them, while getting carried away in a whole new world of its own.