Iona Pay is a British-American freelance musician performing across Southern California with the Santa Monica Symphony, the Southern California Brass Consortium, the Coronado Philharmonic, the American Youth Symphony and other ensembles. She also performs in opera and musical pits, various chamber ensembles and studio sessions in Los Angeles and San Diego.

Passionate about brass chamber music, Iona attended the 2019 American Brass Quintet Seminar at the Aspen Music Festival, and the inaugural National Brass Ensemble Academy at SFCM in 2022. Most recently, she was a finalist for the 2023-24 Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Fellowship, and co-founded the Los Angeles Brass Alliance to platform emerging professional brass musicians.

Iona has been invited to study at Domaine Forget De Charlevoix International Music Festival and Eastern Music Festival, and was offered an orchestral fellowship with The Orchestra Now in 2022. She was a finalist for the 2023-24 Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra Fellowship, and is a substitute musician for the New World Symphony's 2024-25 season. Iona will be attending the 2024 National Orchestral Institute this summer as an Orchestral Fellow.

Iona received her bachelor’s in Horn Performance from the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music in 2022, where she simultaneously earned her bachelor’s in Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics. 

Iona is currently pursuing an on-the-ground education in arts entrepreneurship and performance from freelancing in Los Angeles, and studies privately with the Associate Principal of the New York Philharmonic, Richard Deane. In parallel to her musical career, Iona also enjoys her work in biotechnology strategy and scientific research.