​Margaret has performed with Symphony Nova Scotia, the Penn's Woods Music Festival, Vancouver Symphony, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, Windsor Symphony Orchestra, London Symphonia, Niagara Symphony Orchestra, and Opera Ontario. She was a member of the National Academy Orchestra of Canada for two seasons her reed trio Trio Pistachio was one of a select number of chamber groups invited to perform in the live round of the 2011 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. She has presented at conferences of the International Double Reed Society (2012, 2022, 2024, 2025), the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association (2023, 2024), the Meg Quigley Bassoon Symposium (2025), the Ohio Music Educators Association (2024), the Texas Music Educators Association (2022), and the National Association of Wind and Percussion Instructors (2021).


Margaret has conducted guest master classes at Ohio State University, Georgia State University, West Virginia University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, Western University, the University of Victoria, and Kenyon College. In the summer, she teaches bassoon at the Bobcaygeon Music Camp in Ontario. She has also taught at the Bocal Majority Double Reed Camp in Houston, Texas.



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As a composer, Margaret especially enjoys writing works that include at least one bassoon. Two of her works, Canine Miniatures (2006) for oboe and bassoon and Blightsworth's School for Gifted Waterfowl (2015) for reed trio, have been performed at conferences of the International Double Reed Society. Blightsworth's School for Gifted Waterfowl is available for purchase from Trevco Music. Alongside her bassoon and music theory studies, she took composition lessons with Dr. Sally Lamb McCune at Ithaca College, Dr. Stephen Chatman at the University of British Columbia, and Linda Catlin Smith at Wilfrid Laurier University.


In her spare time, Margaret enjoys running, board games, table tennis, baking, reading, and spending time with her husband, son, and rescue dog, Dumpling. She was thrilled to have been selected to appear on Season 2 of Canada's Smartest Person in Fall 2015. You can watch her go head-to-head with a surgeon, an engineer, and a football player through the CBC Canada's Smartest Person webpage.

A native of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Margaret P. Fay is a passionate advocate for bassoon and tenoroon education for all ages. She has performed with orchestras across Canada and the United States and performs frequently with Symphony Nova Scotia. She has taught at Penn State University, Stephen F. Austin State University, the University of Western Ontario, and the University of Guelph, and is looking forward to joining the faculty at Acadia University in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, in Fall 2026. She and her oboe-playing husband form the Reed Minders Duo, which has performed across Canada and the United States.


Margaret holds a Doctor of Music in Bassoon Performance from Indiana University. She has also completed a Master of Arts in Music Theory from the University of British Columbia, a Master of Music in Bassoon Performance from Ithaca College, a Diploma in Chamber Music from Wilfrid Laurier University, and a Bachelor of Music from the University of Toronto. Her most influential teachers include William Ludwig, Kathleen McLean, Lee Goodhew, Nadina Mackie Jackson, and Chris Palmer. During her three years of doctoral course work at Indiana University, she taught six undergraduate courses as an Associate Instructor of Music Theory. ​​