Born in Nashville, MJ is currently based in Brooklyn and is active as an acclaimed musician all over the world. True to her Music City roots, she is comfortable on any stage, from Carnegie Hall to Madison Square Garden. Versed in most any musical genre, she frequently joins a wide range of groups from the New York Pops to mega super stars like Jay-Z. She has been a member of the Radio City Christmas Spectacular orchestra for multiple seasons and is currently having a blast playing Max Martin tunes every night in the hit Broadway musical & Juliet.
Mary Jo has performed live with popular music artists such as Chromeo, Sigur Ros, Andrew Wyatt, Josh Groban, Alice Coltrane, Il Divo, Diana Ross, MNDR, Kanye West, Father John Misty, Deep Purple, Anohni and the Johnsons, and Adele, just to name a few, and has backed up countless stars on major television shows including the Late Show with David Letterman, Conan O'Brien, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America, The View, the Today Show, and The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. In the spring of 2014, Ms. Stilp joined Frank Ocean and Diplo at fashion industry’s party of the year, the Met Gala, where her picture, as part of the ensemble, was included in Vogue Magazine’s own documentation of the evening.
Ms. Stilp is also an active session musician and arranger, and can be heard on tracks by Shakira, Amanda Blank, A-Trak, Little Anthony, Gil Scott-Heron, Balun, Santigold and others. In film, Ms. Stilp recorded the music of ground-breaking new composer Angélica Negrón in the recently released film Los Condenados, and in a true highlight of her career so far, she was chosen to perform alongside composer Jonny Greenwood in the US premier of the live film score to There Will Be Blood. She also had the privilege of working with Beyoncé on her 2012 concert video Live at Roseland - Elements of 4. On electric violin, Mary Jo frequently joins DJs around the world adding her own artistic element to a wide array of musical styles.