About

Marika Galea is a bassist, composer and educator born in Toronto. Her work spans across jazz, pop, folk, indie, hip hop, new music and experimental genres. Named one of CBC Music’s 35 best Canadian jazz artists under 35 in 2017, Galea has worked with artists such as U.S. Girls, Cyrus Chestnut, Ralph Peterson Jr. and Jake Clemons. She holds a Bachelor of Music from Berklee College of Music and a Master of Music from McGill University. She has been on faculty at the Monterey Jazz Festival, Berklee College of Music‘s Bass & Percussion Weekend, McGill University, McGill Conservatory and Prince Edward County Jazz Festival. She currently is an Assistant Professor of Jazz and Contemporary Popular Music at Brandon University and Eckhardt-Gramatté Conservatory of Music, and continues to speak as a guest through organizations such as McGill Executive Institute, McGill School of Continuing Studies and Malta Jazz Festival.

Projects she has collaborated on have been nominated for (or won) Juno, Golden Globe, Academy, Polaris, Iris, RIDM and HotDocs Awards. Her work and/or studies have been funded by SSHRC, FACTOR, McGill University, Berklee College of Music (Lennie Johnson, Richard Levy), the University of Toronto (Phil and Noreen Nimmons, Distillery Jazz Festival) and Brandon University.

Artists she has worked with include:

Jazz: Terence Blanchard, Cyrus Chestnut, Warren Wolf, Jason Palmer, Jean-Michel Pilc, Vincent Herring, Philip Harper, Rachel Therrien, Yannick Rieu, Yves Léveillé, L’Orchestre national du jazz de Montréal, Ralph Peterson Jr.

Folk/Pop/Rock: Basia Bulat, Tim Kingsbury (Arcade Fire), Aerialists, Mackenzie Shivers, Thus Owls, Jake Clemons (E Street Band), U.S. Girls, Laura Niquay