Miriam Monaghan
Tutor
Miriam Monaghan (née Nerval) is the first recorder player to be profiled in BBC Music Magazine’s Rising Star: Great Artists of Tomorrow feature, and was asked by Classic FM to give a recorder lesson to former Top Gear presenter, James May. She studied to postgraduate level at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, with Ian Wilson, Robert Ehrlich & Pamela Thorby. She was awarded the School’s Concert Recital Diploma for outstanding final recital performance twice, once upon each graduation. After studying, she was invited back to the Guildhall to speak as a panelist for their employability conference.
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. In 2013 she 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 (and NLO Young Artists Series), Eboracum Baroque, Britten-Pears Baroque Orchestra, The Asyla Ensemble and the Oxford Bach Soloists. Additional concert highlights include her City of London Festival debut in 2014 in ‘The Recorder of London’ featuring Simon Callow at the Old Bailey; and as the soloist for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons alongside Eboracum Baroque around the UK in 2018-20.
Miriam is a member of Palisander, an internationally acclaimed recorder quartet, with whom she has performed extensively across Europe, the Middle East and Asia. In 2019, the group were one of two ensembles from across Europe to be selected for the prestigious EEEmerging awards scheme. They received first prize in the inaugural Early Music Young Ensemble Competition hosted by the Early Music Shop, and are current holders of a Tunnell Trust Award. They appear regularly on BBC Radio 3 In Tune & The Early Music Show. Previously Palisander were St John’s Smith Square Young Artists, Live Music Now Artists and BREMF Early Music Live! artists. They have twice received Arts Council England funding for touring projects. Palisander are regularly featured on Classic FM social media platforms, with their videos exceeding a combined viewership of 10 million!
Miriam also performs regularly with Eboracum Baroque. Most recently the group’s project ‘The Story Orchestra,’ in collaboration with the illustrator of the children’s book of the same name, has received national attention, winning a place on Cambridgeshire Music Live in 2019, and continuing to tour in 2020. Miriam featured as a soloist on the ensemble’s most recent CD, Sounds of Suffolk, released in November 2018. In 2020, they will be collaborating on a new disc, featuring Miriam as the soloist for Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
As an arranger and composer, Miriam’s works have been performed live on BBC Radio 3, filmed for Classic FM and British, French, Russian and Japanese television