Maria Casale, principal harp of the New West Symphony, is a world-class concert artist and the gold medal winner of the first USA International Harp Competition held in 1989 at Indiana University. Throughout her career Casale has received numerous awards for her performances, and her solo debut recital at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall brought her critical acclaim. She has been a featured soloist at various World Harp Congress gatherings including those held in Prague, Czech Republic and Paris, France.

As a concert soloist, Casale has enamored audiences throughout the world, including Japan, Europe, Israel, Mexico, and United States. Among the prestigious list of orchestras that she has performed solos with are the Israel Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Orquesta Sinfonica National de Mexico. Locally Casale has also performed with the Santa Barbara Symphony, San Diego Symphony, Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, San Louis Obispo Mozart Festival, and Peter Britt Music Festival in Oregon. Currently she is also Principal Harp with the California Philharmonic and the Downey Symphony.

Not limited to entirely classical repertoire, Ms. Casale has performed with such diverse artists as Stevie Wonder, Josh Groban, Barry Manilow, Christina Aguilera and Sarah McLachlan, and played the 1999 “Andrea Bocelli West Coast Tour of the Americas”. In addition to her busy performance schedule, she teaches harp at Pepperdine University and California State University, Northridge.

Casale began her harp studies at the age of six with Sister Emerentia at Marylhurst College in Portland, Oregon. She earned both her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the Julliard School of Music where she studied under Susann McDonald.