Miriam Monaghan 

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Described as an ‘incredible player’ (Classic FM,) Miriam Monaghan (née Nerval) leads a varied career as a performer, composer/arranger and educator. Highlights outside of Palisander include being the first recorder player to be profiled in BBC Music Magazine’s Rising Star: Great Artists of Tomorrow feature; recording for Disney at Abbey Road Studios, and being asked by Classic FM to give a recorder lesson to former Top Gear presenter, James May.

 

Miriam studied to postgraduate level at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and was awarded the Concert Recital Diploma for outstanding performance twice, once upon each graduation. After graduating, she was invited back to the Guildhall to speak as a panelist for their employability conference and more recently, as an examiner.

 

As a soloist, Miriam won a City Music Foundation Award in their inaugural year, and a Help Musician’s UK Postgraduate Performance Award. She was additionally twice a finalist in the Needlemaker’s Woodwind prize, and received first prize in both the soloist and ensemble categories of the Recorder Conservatoire division of the North London Festival of Music. She has appeared as a soloist alongside numerous ensembles: including the English Chamber Orchestra, New London Orchestra, Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra and the Oxford Bach Soloists. Recital highlights include the City of London Festival in ‘The Recorder of London’ featuring Simon Callow at the Old Bailey; and appearing as the soloist for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Eboracum Baroque each season since 2018.  

 

Miriam has acted as Programming Director and Researcher for Palisander since 2015: responsible for researching new programme ideas and responding to commissions, compiling repertory lists and creating new music specific to the ensemble. Her compositions and arrangements for Palisander have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 on numerous occasions.

 

Miriam also works regularly with Eboracum Baroque. Most recently the group’s project ‘The Story Orchestra' has received national attention, enjoying residencies at Cambridgeshire Music Live, Edinburgh Literary Festival and the National Centre for Early Music. Miriam additionally featured as a soloist on the ensemble’s CD, Sounds of Suffolk.

 

A passionate educator, Miriam is a tutor for the National Youth Recorder Orchestra and Head of Recorder and Music Makers (KS1) for Richmond Music Trust.

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