About Mary

With a varied musical appetite, Mary performs as a soloist, chamber musician, orchestral harpist, and in the community. She has a passion for giving recitals that showcase the harp’s full potential, especially in rural communities, and previous performances include Ripon Cathedral, Isle of Arran Music, Classic Music Live! Falkirk, the Bowes Museum, Music at Junction 50, Holkham Hall in Norfolk, and Hove Music Society, as well as at London’s Wigmore Hall and the Moscow Harp Festival. Mary has been concerto soloist with the Kingston Chamber Players, the Dacorum Symphony Orchestra, the Thames Consort, St Cecilia Orchestra in Yorkshire and the Vacation Chamber Orchestra playing works by Handel, Debussy, Mozart and Rodrigo. She has performed on recordings for Linn Records with Trevor Pinnock, with the Gabrieli Consort and on Paul Patterson’s CD of harp works.

Freelance orchestral work has included performances with the Royal Opera House, Aurora Orchestra, the CBSO, Opera North, with the BBC Concert Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, London Mozart Players, and the RSNO at the Edinburgh International Festival. She has also performed in the West End on the Les Mis Concert Version and Paddington in Concert. With a passion for chamber music, Mary often works with smaller groups: Theatre of Sound, the London Sinfonietta, OperaUpClose, and the London Concertante to name a few. In new music settings, Mary has performed several world premieres including works by Richard Bissell, Thomas Chevis and Gareth Wood. She regularly accompanies choirs such as the choristers of Leeds Cathedral, Sherborne Abbey School, and Lancing College.

Mary absolutely loves taking the harp to settings where people might not otherwise hear live music and goes regularly into schools, day centres and hospitals. Mary works with the Live Music Now scheme, leading workshops and mentoring younger musicians in SEN settings, as well as giving participatory performances for adults living with dementia. She currently plays weekly on wards at St Mary’s Hospital after volunteering there in 2020/21. Mary is a long term supporter of UCCF’s Music Network, and performs with the Christian groups the All Soul’s Orchestra and the King’s Chamber Orchestra. She currently teaches the harp at Francis Holland School.

EDUCATION: Mary gained both her MA in Performance with Distinction and her Bachelor of Music (1st Class Hons) from the Royal Academy of Music, studying with her harp professor of ten years Professor Emerita Skaila Kanga. Prior to attending conservatoire, Mary studied with Marcia Dickstein in Los Angeles, Sarah Bullen in Chicago and Sophie Askew in Edinburgh, her hometown.