View Nora’s Resume Here

Short Biography:

Nora Germain is the top jazz violinist of her generation. With over 3 million views on Instagram, she is well on her way to achieving her goal of decidedly reintroducing jazz violin to the world this century. Nora has released 12 of her own recordings as well as an inspirational book, and has performed and/ or recorded with JMSN, Jon Batiste, Jacob Collier, KNOWER, Postmodern Jukebox, Martin Taylor, Tommy Emmanuel, Jeff Goldblum, Lewis Capaldi, Sam Smith and many others. She includes Hazel Scott, Michael Jordan and Princess Diana among her inspirations, and was recently invited to visit the home of none other than the late Stephane Grappelli, whom Germain refers to as the greatest jazz violinist of all time. She plays for the heart of the general public, and is in keen and relentless pursuit of excellence — excellence in tone, in intonation, and in her ability to connect with the average person. “I’m quite pleased when people who previously had no interest in violin, nor jazz, and likely had never heard of jazz violin — tell me that they now count themselves as my fans.” Germain comes from a musical family, in which her parents met playing violin in the symphony and her father later became a violin luthier. “I’m working class,” she says. “Working, with class.” British music legend John Altman has praised Germain as “the best jazz violinist in the world, bar none.” She has also played on hundreds of recordings with other artists, and tells her followers that “this century needs swing,” and she’s “winding up.”

Extended Biography: 

1/4 Catalan, 3/4 American Nora Francesca Germain is a jazz violinist and author based in Los Angeles. She was the first ever violinist to graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Jazz Studies from University of Southern California’s Thornton School of Music, where she attended with a full scholarship. She was also the first to formally study jazz violin at the renowned Idyllwild Arts Academy high school in California, where she was given the "Inspirational Jazz Student" Award at age 17 by Marshall Hawkins, former bassist for Miles Davis and Shirley Horn. Now often called an old soul or bright star, Nora has worked alongside an impressive range of top performers from around the world and continues to delight her fans with her uncompromising vision, dedication to her craft and charismatic wit. She has since earned the nickname “Jazz Violin Barbie.”

Nora was introduced to music by her violinist parents and cellist grandmother who were all members of the Madison Symphony. She started violin lessons at age 3. Her maternal grandmother was also a pianist and singer from Barcelona, Spain. Both of Nora’s grandfathers were veterans of World War II. One of them, Cliff Germain, notably helped found the State Natural Areas Program in Wisconsin. The other was a professor and a friend of J. Robert Oppenheimer’s brother, Frank Oppenheimer. After her work in the symphony, Nora’s mother co-founded the Suzuki Strings of Madison classical violin school in the early 1990s which Nora attended as a child, while her late father became a violin luthier and restored violins out of their family home. During the 1990s and early 2000s, Nora performed year-round with Suzuki Strings of Madison and participated in masterclasses led by among others, violinists Mark O'Connor and Hilary Hahn. 

By age 10, Nora discovered that she had perfect pitch and was already eager to venture outside of her classical training, but she did not recognize a personal connection to jazz until she was a teenager, and track one of the 1956 Stephane Grappelli album “Improvisations” came through the stereo. That moment was one of profound inspiration, and it encouraged Nora to begin to find her own sound and way of playing in the world — a journey she colloquially refers to as “violin mountain.” Nora attended boarding school in Idyllwild, California as a teenager and was mentored closely as a young jazz violinist by bass player and jazz luminary Marshall Hawkins starting in 2007. The two have performed together regularly since then, and she wrote extensively about their close relationship in her book, “Go For It.”

While at university, Nora accompanied artists including Kristin Chenoweth, Glenn Frey of The Eagles, Barry Manilow and Arturo Sandoval in various live performances. She also performed at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards with Sam Smith. She has since been a featured soloist and special guest with Jon Batiste (the result of a friendship that started in 2008), Jacob Collier, Evan Christopher, Casey Abrams, Dee Dee Bridgewater and John Altman. She has also appeared alongside several of the world's great guitar players including Martin Taylor MBE, John Etheridge, Tommy Emmanuel CGP, Robin Nolan and others.

She has also recorded as a soloist with a number of singers including Sandi Thom, Ariana Savalas, and Alan Paul of The Manhattan Transfer. She has been featured as a guest and co-host on numerous podcasts including Scott Cowie’s Talk Music Podcast and The Violin Podcast. In 2016 she was invited to perform for the Eckhart Tolle Foundation and in the same year, she also started performing in viral music videos with YouTube sensation Postmodern Jukebox. Her performances with the group have now been watched over 12 million times.

Nora has worked on numerous films, TV shows and music videos both on camera and in the recording studio, including projects for The Hallmark Channel, Hulu, Sony Pictures, Drunk History, Glee, music videos for JMSN and KNOWER, and others. She has also produced and released 12 of her own jazz albums featuring standards, classical re-imaginings, and original compositions. In 2024, she released a new edition of her inspirational music mindset book “Go For It,” and in total, has played on over 150 recordings. She appeared on episodes of The Late Late Show with James Corden and The Ellen DeGeneres Show performing with musical guests Sampha, Robert Glasper, Kamasi Washington, and Lewis Capaldi. More recently, she has performed as a soloist for The Gates Foundation, The Getty Center, Tiffany and Co., and others.

For two years, Nora performed taking requests on a weekly basis for patients and families at Children's Hospital Los Angeles, under the Mark Taper-Johnny Mercer Volunteer Artist Program, and has performed for a number of other charities and causes. She enjoys public speaking and master classes, traveling to Europe, being near the ocean, and turns to writing or painting in her free time. She is also a supporter of several environmental efforts. Guitarist Martin Taylor MBE, longtime collaborator with Stephane Grappelli, has described Nora as having a "very wise head on very young shoulders." Nora often calls her visit to Stephane’s home in Paris a “pilgrimage,” and aims to play throughout this century, just as Stephane did in the last. On social media, Nora has referred to her musical world as “Jazzland,” and writes to her followers, “This century needs swing! Get in — we’re saving jazz violin!”

She also cites Hazel Scott, Ray Charles and Clark Terry as inspirations, along with Michael Jordan, Walt Disney and Princess Diana. With over 3 million views on Instagram, something instrumentalists of any genre rarely achieve — don’t be surprised if she is already your favorite violinist’s favorite jazz violinist.