Mary Gatchell

Accolades like “accomplished singer/songwriter” and “talented musician” are bandied about all too easily; Mary Gatchell really does seem to deserve them. Here’s a partial CV: A graduate of NYU with a Bachelor of Music degree in Jazz Theory and Composition and a Master of Music degree in Instrumental Performance in Jazz Piano, she has performed in small clubs and large stadiums, in solo shows and with the groups that she’s in – like NYC’s premiere a cappella choir, Ghostlight Chorus, and the New Orleans southern funk bank Strangeland.

She’s a member of the Leon Lacey Orchestra of which she has been principal oboist; she’s also played principal oboe with the New York Chamber Players. Mary was the co-founder and artistic director of the Italian chamber music festival Siena Summer Music, held from 2008 to 2016,;and in 2023 her classical composition Paradiso Canto 33, setting Dante’s text to music for a cappella choir, was premiered in Siena.

Mary is a choreographer and musical director as well (for productions of West Side Story, The Wiz, Jesus Christ Superstar, and Dreamgirls among others). She is currently a rehearsal pianist and substitute conductor for the Broadway hit, Six The Musical.

She’s a music teacher too; she’s a visiting lecturer at NYU, she has implemented a sustainable music curriculum for HIV-infected and impoverished children in Ethiopia, and she has taught music to orphans with special needs in Bulgaria.

And she’s a recording artist, of course, with seven albums of her original music plus three albums of hymns and spirituals, a Christmas album, and an album of jazz standards.

Mary’s imminent 13th album, What’s My Name? Destiny, sets music to a collection of love poems from such as Rabia of Basra, Rumi, Hafiz, St Catherine of Siena, and Farouk Henry. It’s this music that she will be performing at NYUAD. Especially given that tickets are complimentary, this is a concert not to be missed …