A steady stream of American musicians come through Prague, but not many with the breadth of experience that violinist Janice Martin brings. A veteran of both large and small stages in the United States, she's also toured across Europe, Australia, Japan and, most recently, China. For all that, when she recorded her second CD, Romantic Gems, in late 2002, it was with the Pilsen Philharmonic.

"We have a good chemistry together," Martin says via e-mail. "I love playing with the conductor, Jiří Malát, and the orchestra because there is an incredible vitality and commitment in their approach to their music-making, as well as musical fluency and excellence. It is very inspiring to work with them."

Martin will be making her Prague debut with pianist Assaff Weisman, performing a Beethoven sonata, Bach partita and a handful of 20th-century works, including a sonata for violin and piano by contemporary U.S. composer John Corigliano. She then embarks on a 10-day tour of the Czech Republic that includes stops in decidedly unglamorous places like Pardubice and Olomouc. What takes her to bus-stop towns here and around the world?

"I love to play concerts!" she says.

That much is clear from her busy schedule and the passion she brings to her music. Critics have praised the lyricism, emotional resonance and virtuosity of her performances and offered equally laudatory reviews of her recordings. "It is imaginatively chosen, technically awesome and beautifully played," The Washington Post said of her 1999 debut solo CD, which included the Corigliano sonata.

Trained at the Juilliard and Indiana schools of music, Martin first made a name for herself in the 1990s, winning major U.S. violin competitions. She's played with a number of orchestras since then, and toured with some as well; she's been to Japan with the New York Symphonic Ensemble, and in 2004 she toured the United States with the Pilsen Philharmonic. And somehow, in her spare time, she also sings, plays the piano and runs her own jazz quartet.

Still, what might be most striking about Martin is the uncharacteristic lack of ego in someone so accomplished. Her schedule is just as likely to include performance dates in Walhalla, South Carolina, as New York City. As long as it's about playing music, the size and prestige of the venue don't seem to matter.

"I love to travel," she says, "and I also find a great deal of satisfaction in bringing music to smaller cities and towns where there is a real hunger for recitals of violin and piano works."

Martin also brings an uncharacteristic humility to places like the Czech Republic. "I find performing in Europe in general to be a very deep emotional experience because I am in the place where Western classical music was created," she says. "It makes every note of a European composer that much more meaningful when I have walked the streets where the truly great musical giants have walked."

It's difficult to pigeonhole Martin, as her repertoire ranges from Baroque to 20th-century. Ask her to name favorite pieces and composers, and she can generate a long list, but she starts with a caveat that marks her as a musician's musician: "I remember [violinist] Gil Shahan answering a question like that by saying his favorite composer was whoever wrote the piece he was working on. I like his answer because one lives and breathes a work while working on it. There is no way to describe this feeling other than love."