About

Marianne is a founder member of the ground-breaking quartet The Hermes Experiment, one of the UK's leading young contemporary music ensembles and winners of the Royal Philharmonic Society Young Artist Award in 2021. Formed of harp, clarinet, voice and double bass, the group’s collaborative ethos drives a dynamic programme of over 60 new commissions to date, alongside bold arrangements, electrifying free improvisation and music written by members of the group. The Hermes Experiment have released three albums on Delphian Records to critical acclaim; their most recent album, TREE, received a 5 Star Review in The Guardian (Oct. 2025). The group's recent and upcoming collaborations include projects with Abel Selaocoe, Kit Downes, Sofia Jernberg and Misha Mullov-Abbado, and performances at venues including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, the Barbican, and De Doelen, Rotterdam.

'Schofield is also behind a gorgeous version of Les Rossignols by Élisabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, initially halting and ethereal, then coalescing into something approaching its 17th-century original.’

Marianne has been an artistic board member and double bass player of the contemporary collective Riot Ensemble since 2019; this ‘supergroup of top soloists playing new music’ (The Guardian) won the prestigious Ernst Von Siemens Ensemble Prize in 2020. Marianne has given the premières of many new solo works for double bass through her involvement with this ensemble, including solo performances at Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, and Folkestone New Music, as well as at European festivals including Festspillene i Nord-Norge (Arctic Arts Festival, Norway), and MaerzMusik at the Berliner Festspiele. She and fellow artistic board member, cellist Louise McMonagle, also have a new cello and double bass duo project, Living Floors, for which Riot Ensemble recently supported new commissions from composers Bára Gísladóttir and Trish Clowes.

Marianne is a dedicated chamber musician and has performed with groups including the Solem Quartet, Haffner Wind Ensemble, the Gould Piano Trio, Her Ensemble, GBSR duo, 12 Ensemble, Manchester Collective, United Strings of Europe, as well as collaborations with musicians including Ayanna Witter-Johnson, Abel Selaocoe, Max Baillie, Héloïse Werner, David Le Page, Katie Bray, Clare O’Connell and Hayden Thorpe. An experienced orchestral player, Marianne works regularly with a number of UK chamber and symphony orchestras, including the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, Aurora Orchestra, BBC Symphony Orchestra, City of London Sinfonia, English Chamber Orchestra, English National Opera, London Mozart Players, London Symphony Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, and Sinfonia of London.

As an arranger and composer, Marianne recently wrote a piece for Scottish Ensemble and Héloïse Werner to perform in June 2025; a contemporary ‘reimagining’ for string orchestra and voice of a recitative and air from ‘Les Printemps Cantatille’ by the Baroque composer Julie Pinel. Marianne also made a bespoke arrangement for string trio and voice of another song from the same collection of works by Julie Pinel, ‘Sombres Lieux’, for Héloïse Werner’s second album, ‘close-ups’; this was described by Gramophone Magazine as ‘a hauntingly beautiful arrangement’ in which ‘time appears to stand still’. Marianne has arranged music extensively for The Hermes Experiment, including works by Lili Boulanger, Cécile Chaminade, Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Anna Meredith, and Olivia Chaney, and has also written an original song for the group, ‘Islands’, appearing on their third album, TREE. Upcoming composition projects for late 2025 include a spatial work for organ, voice and The Hermes Experiment, a cello and bass duo for a collaboration with cellist Louise McMonagle, as well as set of unaccompanied double bass miniatures.

'Time appears to stand still during these points, especially in Julie Pinel’s Sombres Lieux, in a hauntingly beautiful arrangement made by Werner’s longtime musical collaborator and fellow performer, virtuoso double bassist Marianne Schofield’

Marianne is increasingly active as an arranger and composer. Recent projects have included a new work for Scottish Ensemble and Héloïse Werner to tour in June 2025: a contemporary ‘reimagining’ for string orchestra and voice of a recitative and air from ‘Les Printemps Cantatille’ by the Baroque composer Julie Pinel. Marianne had also made another Pinel arrangement of a song from the same collection for Héloïse Werner’s second album, close-ups; this version of ‘Sombres Lieux’ for voice and string trio was described by Gramophone Magazine as ‘a hauntingly beautiful arrangement’ in which ‘time appears to stand still’. Marianne has arranged music extensively for The Hermes Experiment over the last ten years, including works by Lili Boulanger, Cécile Chaminade, Elizabeth Jacquet de la Guerre, Anna Meredith, and Olivia Chaney, and has also written an original song for the group, ‘Islands’, appearing on their third album, TREE. Recent composition projects for late 2025 include two spatial works for organ, voice and The Hermes Experiment, a cello and bass duo for a collaboration with cellist Louise McMonagle, ‘Inter Ligna’, as well as a set of unaccompanied double bass miniatures.

Marianne studied at the Royal Academy of Music and the University of Cambridge, and is a graduate of the Hallé/RNCM String Leadership Scheme. She is grateful to the Cambridge Bursary Scheme, the Headley Trust and the Greenbank Scholarship for supporting her studies.

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