Italian Paola Baron is the Principal Harpist of the São Paulo Municipal Symphony Orchestra – she was a member of OSESP from 2007 to 2014 and of the Opera and Ballet Theater in Ljubljana, Slovenia. She graduated with top marks from the J. Tomadini Conservatory in Udine, Italy, studying with Patrizia Tassini, and obtained a master’s degree with honors at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg, Austria, with Sarah O’Brien. She attended a post-graduate course at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique in Lyon, France, with Fabrice Pierre. In 2018, she completed her PhD in Musicology on the works of Luciano Berio and Flo Menezes at the Institute of Arts of UNESP in São Paulo, under the guidance of composer Flo Menezes.

Baron collaborated as Principal Harpist with the Fondazione Arturo Toscanini Orchestra (conducted by Lorin Maazel), the Orchester der Tiroler Festspiele (conducted by Gustav Kuhn), the Birmingham Royal Ballet, among other ensembles. She has performed as a soloist, with chamber groups (participating in the IV European Harp Symposium), and as a soloist with orchestras in Brazil and abroad (Italy, France, Germany, Austria, USA, Slovenia, and Croatia). In January 2004, she played Luciano Berio’s Sequenza II at the Carlo Felice Theater in Genoa, at the first European memorial dedicated to the composer, a performance broadcast live by Radio Tre Rai.

She has participated in national and international competitions, winning the First Prize at the “F. Schubert” National Competition at the age of 14; in 2002, she won the Second Prize at the “V. Salvi,” Italy’s most prestigious Harp Competition; in 2007, she won the Absolute First Prize at the International Competition of the Slovenian Harp Association.

Since 2012, she has been a harp teacher at EMESP-Escola de Música do Estado de São Paulo, regularly invited to teach at festivals. In 2017, she was invited to prepare the Latin American tour of the YOA – Youth Orchestra of the Americas.