Mary Weil Barranger grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where she was a winner of the Pittsburgh Concert Society Youth Auditions. She graduated magna cum laude from the University of Michigan School of Music and in her senior year was one of 15 women to be selected to be in the Mortar Board Society. Her Master’s Degree was in Piano Performance from San Diego State University. Her musical mentors have been George Trovillo, Marion Owen, and Karen Follingstad.
Mary has been the pianist for the San Diego Symphony since 1975 and principal pianist for the San Diego Chamber Orchestra (now Orchestra Nova) since 1988. She has appeared as soloist with the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Pops Orchestra, and the Grossmont Symphony Orchestra, She is a founding member of Camarada Chamber Music Ensemble. She performs regularly with duo-pianist Diane Snodgrass and has collaborated frequently in concerts and recordings with Zina Schiff, violinist. Schiff’s and Barranger’s Naxos recording of the music of Cecil Burleigh was voted Critic’s Choice Best of 2002 in American Record Guide. In a review of that CD, The Strad magazine characterized Barranger’s playing as “endlessly sympathetic.”
Recently, Mary has presented solo harpsichord recitals at the Athenaeum, the Lyceum, and the San Diego Museum of Art. In addition to her Flemish double harpsichord she is the proud owner of a rare early keyboard instrument called a clavicytherium.
Mary is proud to have been paired with Sheila Potiker in the San Diego Symphony’s Partner with the Player Program since 2002.