Martin Spitznagel, 25, is a multi-faceted artist and entertainer. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Martin has been playing the piano since age 12. Introduced to ragtime by a classmate, he went out immediately after school and bought the first music book he saw with the word “ragtime” in the title, a collection of the piano rags of Scott Joplin. Just two years later, at 14, he won Calliope Media’s nationwide “Crazy for Ragtime” competition, where he was awarded a Yamaha Disklavier piano for his arrangement of “Slap-Happy Rag.”

Never one for the discipline of lessons, Martin was largely self-taught until he attended the Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival in Sedalia, MO, in 1998. It was at that festival that Martin met renowned pianist and pedagogue Tony Caramia, who told Martin in no uncertain terms that his playing lacked "testosterone." Martin has studied with him ever since.

Martin has been a featured performer at the Scott Joplin Ragtime Festival, as well as placing 4th at the Old-Time Piano Playing Championship in Peoria, IL. In addition to playing the piano, Martin's professional life is spent as an aspiring filmmaker, writer, and composer. Martin is currently fulfilling a childhood dream of making his own Star Wars movie, the feature-length film "Star Wars: Hunt for the Holocron," due for worldwide internet release on or before June 28, 2008.

In April 2007, Martin received his Bachelor’s Degree in English Literature from the University of Pittsburgh, and is in the process of choosing a graduate school where he can continue his education with a Masters of English Literature.

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