MONICA SCHLEY
Monica Schley has been a lifelong musician. She began playing the piano at the age of 4, and by 14, she was studying harp, clarinet, pipe organ, and voice. She first learned about Hildegard von Bingen as a teenager.
In 2015, Monica became a Certified Clinical Musician, playing harp in hospitals and hospices. During that time, she returned to some of Hildegard's music because of its therapeutic sound. However, she realized that the arrangements of Hildegard's songs weren't easy to find. So, she arranged a songbook of Hildegard's music for harp.
Monica is an active harp instructor and teaches through her home studio and at Dusty Strings Music School in Seattle, Washington. She has spent over 25 years playing and growing musically in the worlds of classical, jazz, improvisation, Celtic music, and composition. She has gone on to play with a wide array of musicians, including Seattle Rock Orchestra, Jherek Bischoff, Secret Chiefs 3, and Ahamefule Oluo in his critically acclaimed off-Broadway show, Now I'm Fine. As a composer, Monica led her band, The Daphnes, in their 2015 album, Braids of Kabuya. Monica has received artistic support from the Espy Foundation and Centrum Foundation.