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, and was awarded the Concert Recital Diploma for outstanding 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, 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 in 2018-19.
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.
Miriam also works regularly with Eboracum Baroque. Most recently the group’s project ‘The Story Orchestra’ has received national attention, winning a place on Cambridgeshire Music Live 2019. The Story Orchestra will continue to tour into 2020, with upcoming performances including the Edinburgh International Festival. Miriam additionally featured as a soloist on the ensemble’s latest CD, Sounds of Suffolk, released in November 2018.