Mara was born in Amsterdam in 2004 and started playing the violin when she was five years old. Since 2015 she has been studying with Maria Milstein at the Sweelinck Academy of the Conservatory of Amsterdam. Before that she had lessons with Hans Scheepers. She also sometimes receives lessons from Alla Kim and her aunt Liza Ferschtman.

In April 2018, Mara won the first prize at the National Final of the Princess Christina Competition. The next day she performed with other winners in the television program Podium Witteman.

Mara regularly participates in master classes with international professors. In the summer of 2018 she attended a master class with Pierre Amoyal during the Holland Music Sessions.

In June 2019, Mara was admitted as an active participant in the prestigious violin master class in Kronberg, Germany, by professor Gerhard Schulz.

Mara studies at the Vossius Gymnasium in Amsterdam. She currently plays a French violin by Pierre Pacherel (Nice, 1849) provided by the National Musical Instrument Fund.

She participates in various projects to broaden her musical boundaries – for example, the international collaboration with the Moscow Gnessin Special School of Music “Hidden Gems of the Russian Romantic Music” lead by the internationally acknowledged violinist Maria Milstein. 

Competitions