BIOGRAPHY

Monica Schley is a harpist, poet and performer. She has over 15 years of experience playing all styles of special events including weddings, luncheons, art openings, garden parties, holiday event, banquets, and many others. Her diverse past of performance venues include Bumbershoot, Pink Door restaurant, The Triple Door and other night clubs, Youngstown Cultural Arts Center, Fairmont Olympic Hotel, The Bravern and City Center Malls, Primera Blue Cross, and countless weddings around the Puget Sound region.

Classically trained, Monica is also comfortable playing Irish gigs and improvizing with jazz and rock musicians. She has worked on recordings and live performances with many reputable musicians including Bill Horist, The Dead Science, Degenerate Art Ensemble, Greg Sinibaldi, Masada, Kanye West, Lori Goldston, Monktail Creative Music Concern, Parenthetical Girls, Secret Cheifs 3. She plays with The New Seattle Ensembles as well as the Seattle Rock Orchestra, and Pretty Abandoned and is a former president of the American Harp Society Seattle Chapter.

In addition to being a harpist, Monica is a poet. Her poems have been published in Burnside Review, Cranky, Cream City Review, and Crab Creek Review. Her poetry/performance art piece Black Eden: Nocturnes, which integrates improvised dance & music with poetry & song, has featured at the Seattle Poetry Festival, Artopia, and other venues.

Her two favorite harpists are Harpo Marx and Alice Coltrane.

QUOTES

“You were so beautiful.  We can’t thank you enough for the beauty that you brought to our wedding and the memories we will have of the event for the rest of our lives.  It was just as I imagined when I thought about what I wanted our day to be like.  Your playing was so wonderful. I’m glad that I was able to hear you play the whole time. Thank you for touching my life the way you did  I will always remember you.”
~Cathi and Rick

“Thank you so much for providing such beautiful music for our wedding ceremony!! It was so amazing, everyone was so impressed!”
~Kelsey Bellin

“We still have people mentioning your performance at Hugo House in October. You were amazing and I think your music and your poetry that night touched a lot of people.”
~Annette Spaulding-Convey, Crab Creek Review Editor

MUSIC

Ave Maria

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Cherry

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Moonrise

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