Ms. Flurry is an award-winning concerto performer and was educated at Interlochen Arts Academy, Peabody Conservatory, and the University of Michigan. She has performed with the Detroit, Baltimore, Spokane, Phoenix, Toledo, and Annapolis Orchestras as well as with orchestras across southeast Michigan. Ms. Flurry has also been guest timpanist with the Michigan Opera Theater, Mannheim Steamroller, Phoenix Symphony and she served as principal timpanist with the Flint Symphony Orchestra for over a decade. She currently is principal percussionist with the Flagstaff Symphony.
Ms. Flurry received national attention as a founding member of Harpbeat, a percussion and harp duo. The group toured the Central States, made solo appearances with orchestras, and released three recordings to critical acclaim in Parenting and Family Fun magazines. Ms. Flurry has also recorded with Summit Brass and the Flint Symphony Orchestra.
Having returned to the southwest in 2002, she co-founded Sticks and Tones, with her pianist/composer husband, Henry Flurry. The group, a Roster Member of the Arizona Commission on the Arts, tours and performs all over the Southwest.
Ms. Flurry is a founder of Chaparral Arts, Inc., a 501(c)3 organization supporting the arts in Arizona. She is also founder and artistic director of the Chaparral MusicFest, a music festival incorporating contemporary music of all styles.
Ms. Flurry's Flint Symphony performance of Tan Dun’s Water Concerto for Water Percussion and Orchestra was called "captivating, as indicated by the standing ovation" by the Flint Journal. After her Spokane Symphony performance, the Spokesman Review declared Ms. Flurry "a brilliant advocate for Tan's music."
In October 2006, Ms. Flurry premiered at the Phoenix Art Museum Kenneth LaFave's Canto de Alba, a new concerto for world percussion and chamber orchestra that she had commissioned.
In April 2008 Ms. Flurry will join the Tucson Chamber Orchestra for the Water Concerto, and in June she will play Canto de Alba with the Phoenix based MusicNova.
Maria Flurry is an artist endorser for Black Swamp Percussion and a Roster Member of the Arizona Commission on the Arts.