Maria Bayley began her musical studies at the Instituto Gregoriano de Lisboa with Cristiano Holtz (harpsichord) and Elsa Cortez (singing).

She holds a degree in harpsichord from the Royal Conservatory of The Hague (The Netherlands) in the class of Jacques Ogg, a masters degree in singing – specialisation in Early Music Ensemble from the Fontys Conservatory of Tilburg (The Netherlands) with Vitali Rozynko and Ildikó Hajnal, a master’s degree in Medieval and Renaissance keyboards at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis (Switzerland) with Corina Marti, a master’s degree in Early Music Theory at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and a master’s degree in harpsichord pedagogy at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML) with Ana Mafalda Castro.

She also plays the Italian and Iberian harp. She studied harp as a second instrument with Emma Huysser and Heidrun Rosenzweig, and was introduced to the Iberian harp in master classes with Nuria Llopis and Manuel Vilas. 

Maria is the founder of ensemble Ars Lusitana, an ensemble dedicated to the research and performance of Portuguese repertoire, with which she has recorded an album dedicated to Coelho’s music with organist André Ferreira, and a forthcoming release ‘Para cantar ao órgão’, with repertoire from the sixteenth century Coimbra. The latter will be released on the label she co-founded, Ut Supra Records.

She is also co-founder of Ensemble 258, a trio of multi-instrumentalists, with whom she organized the cycle ‘7 Colinas / 7 Cantatas’ in 2020 and 2022, a series of concerts in different monuments in Lisbon.

She is vice-president of Asociación Ars Hispana, dedicated to the recovery and publication of the Spanish repertoire.

As a soloist, she was awarded the first prize in the Carlos Seixas harpsichord competition, in the Portuguese National Harpsichord competition and in the Young Performers of Early Music award.

With ensemble Heptachordum, she was awarded the first prize in the Baroque ensemble category in the Portuguese award Prémio Jovens Músicos.

Maria performs regularly with the ensembles O Bando de Surunyo, La Academia de los Nocturnos, Cantores Sancti Gregorii and Palma Choralis. She has also participated in projects with Bach Koor Holland, Sete Lágrimas, Grupo Vocal Olisipo, Suave Armonia, La Danserye, Capella Sanctae Crucis, among others.

Currently, she is a PhD student and member of CECH – Centre for Classical and Humanistic Studies at the University of Coimbra, taking part in the project Mundos e Fundos – Methodological and Interpretive Worlds of Musical Collections.