News, Events & Opinion

Mary Manning, violinist and violist, is a Tacoma native and a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio where she studied both modern and baroque violin performance with Marilyn McDonald. She is longtime Principal Second Violin of Northwest Sinfonietta as well as the Vashon and Tacoma Opera Orchestras. She has served as guest concertmaster for Northwest Sinfonietta, Seattle Pro Musica, Olympia and Bremerton Symphonies. As a chamber music player she has been a member of the Regency, Tomasini, and Bravura String Quartets, the Chinook Trio, and the Puget Sound Consort. Her extensive work as a baroque orchestral musician has included membership in the Seattle, Portland, and Pacific Baroque Orchestras, Smithsonian Chamber Orchestra, and the Carmel Bach Festival Orchestra. More unique work has included appearing, as a violinist, in a television commercial for Folgers coffee, recording a soundtrack for a silent movie (The Showoff, Turner Classic Movies) and playing backup for Robert Plant and Jimmy Page on their 1995 tour. She taught violin at Pacific Lutheran University and was a member of the faculty string quartet from 2008-2019. Mary lives in Gig Harbor and is a private violin and viola teacher.