‘For more than 30 years, she has unwaveringly pursued her artistic path:
Monika Stadler has positioned the harp in Austrian musical life as an instrument that can be equally at home in all styles. There are only a few female harpists in the world who make music with such a variety of genres.’ (Albert Hosp, Ö1)

Monika Stadler studied concert harp with Professor Adelheid Blovsky-Miller at the MDW University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna. Already active in classical symphony orchestras during her studies, Monika Stadler began to explore improvised music, jazz and folk music at an early age. After graduating with honours, she was awarded scholarships to study with Deborah Henson-Conant in the USA, where she also took lessons from jazz bassist David Clark at the Berklee School of Music.

The winner of several international jazz harp competitions has been touring Europe, America, North Africa and Asia for 30 years with her own concert projects, as a soloist or in various duo formations.

Starting with productions in the USA and culminating in the 2021 CD ‘Diary From Within’, Monika Stadler has now released 13 recordings of her own compositions: not only solo recordings, but also duos with renowned musicians.

Monika Stadler leads many harp workshops for improvisation throughout Europe, holds a guest professorship for jazz harp at the Guildhall School of Music, London and teaches ‘Improvisation & Creative Music Making’ for all instruments at the MDW, Vienna.

Her compositions have been played by generations of harpists worldwide (e.g. National Youth Harp Orchestra of Great Britain, American Youth Harp Ensemble) and used on radio and TV.

In 2022, 2 of her compositions were performed at the WHC in Cardiff.
To date, Monika Stadler has published 11 books of sheet music with Musikverlag Doblinger and Creighton’s Collection.

‘My music is very personal, an expression of my soul, my spirituality, my femininity. It arises from the connection with nature, the rhythms of life, the experience of inner and outer moods and silence.’
(Monika Stadler)