Maria Chiossi

Maria Chiossi started playing the harp at the age of nine when she entered the Conservatorio of Brescia, her hometown, as a student of the Italian harpist Anna Loro. At the age of 13 she won the first prize at the Victor Salvi International Harp Competition and in 2002 she performed for the Victor Salvi Foundation as one of the best Italian graduates in her year. While studying the harp she cultivated her interest in philosophy, graduating with Honours from the University of Padua, with a dissertation entitled ” The nature of the musical time”. Maria entered Trinity College of Music, London on a postgraduate scholarship studying with Gabriella Dall’Olio in which she was also awarded a scholarship from the Italian cultural association “Il Circolo”. Whilst studying she was chosen to play as soloist with Trinity College of Music String Ensemble with whom she toured England, Italy, Slovenia and Germany playing Mozart Flute and Harp concerto. In September 2010 she entered the Barenboim-Said Orchestral Academy in Seville where she received classes with Stephen Fitzpatrick and Alexandra Clementz, both principal harpists of the Staatoper in Berlin. She has participated in several master classes with renowned harpists such as Letizia Belmondo, Xavier De Maistre, Frances Kelly, Judith Liber, Alison Martin, Isabelle Perrin, Fabrice Pierre, Luisa Prandina, Park Stickney, David Watkins, Hugh Webb and Sioned Williams. In June 2008 she was one of the four harp finalists for the Orchestra L .Cherubini created and conducted my Maestro Riccardo Muti, with whom she played with on several occasions, and in July 2009 she travelled to Doha, after being selected as a finalist for the Qatar Symphony Orchestra. From 2008 till 2011 she played as Principal Harpist with the Latvian Symphony Orchestra and toured with the Orchestra and Mischa Maisky all around Japan. She was a former member of the Orchestra Italiana del Cinema with whom she toured China and played a live broadcasted concert at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing conducted by Nicola Piovani. In January 2011 she won the audition for the Youtube Symphony Orchestra, having been chosen by members of the London Symphony Orchestra and the Berliner Philarmoniker. She performed at the Sydney Opera House on the 20th of March 2011 conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas in a concert that was broadcasted live all over the world. In 2013 she was the principal harpist of “ Be my love “ the European Tour of the renowed tenor Joseph Calleja, and she performed at Theatre Champs Elysées, Munich Philarmonie, Praga Smetana Saal, Vienna Konzerthaus, Amsterdam Concertgebouw and Baden Baden Festspeilhaus. From April 2014 till August 2015 she worked as principal harpist with the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra and served as a harp instructor at Mahidol University College of Music in Bangkok. She regularly freelances with many orchestras in Europe like the Orchestra of the Balearic Islands,the Oxford Philomusica, the Southbank Sinfonia, the Orchestra del Regio di Parma, I solisti Veneti,, the Orchestra Italiana del Cinema, the Goteborg Opera House, The NorrlandsOperan, the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona, the Oviedo Filarmonia, the Symphonic Orchestra of Navarra, the Real Filarmonia de Galicia, the Orchestra Sinfonica de Madeira, the Orchestra Sinfonica del Principato de Asturias and the Orchestra Sinfonica de Porto among others.