Mary Sue Welsh is a former executive director of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia, where she worked closely with Edna Phillips, the chair of the festival's board of directors. Before that she edited books for Atheneum in New York and Lippincott in Philadelphia. Welsh has written for the American Harp Journal, the World Harp Review, and Philadelphia Music Makers and has served on the Chestnut Hill Committee for the Philadelphia Orchestra and the board of directors of the Germantown Branch of Settlement Music School. She earned a bachelor's degree at Northwestern University and a master's degree at Villanova. She lives in Philadelphia.