Mare started playing piano at age 3, and at age 5 was featured on Iowa City Public Television playing piano with an orchestra. Mare attended Indiana University, studying jazz piano, and went on to receive an M.A. at William Paterson in composition and jazz arranging, studying with Jim McNeely. In 2006 Mare was a member of the BMI Jazz Composers Workshop, and in 2007 had music premiered at the Renee Weiler Concert Hall. In the summer of 2009 Mare opened up for Mos Def (now known as Yasiin Bey), playing keyboard with the singer Lilla D’Mone. Mare was a recipient of the 2011 Young Jazz Composers Awards and played piano at the Aaron Davis Hall with the Tamar-Kali Group. In 2012, Mare played accordion and synthesizer in the pit for the Broadway musical, Evita. Mare was an artist in residence at the Banff Centre, Harold Arts, and ElMERGE. In the Fall of 2013, Mare went on tour in Europe for 7 weeks, playing and creating sound installations for Tara Rynders’s project: You and Me. In 2014, Mare had the opportunity to accompany Josephine Foster at the Manhattan Inn, and released a solo cd, Built on Water, of all original songs for voice and piano. Mare was a fellow in the Hemispheric Institute’s 2015 EMERGENYC program, and made a video on gentrification, entitled White Out. In 2016, The Berger Siblings released a cd, Maybe So, featuring Mare’s original songs. In 2017, Mare’s short film, White Out, was chosen to be in the Fair Play Film Festival in Miami, Florida. Mare started and co-directed The Moon Choir, a choir featuring queer and trans people plus allies. Mare had the honor to play at the Jazz Standard in January, 2018 with Arthur Vint and the Associates. From 2014-2018 Mare curated a performance series, The Moon Show, which promoted queer, trans and other underrepresented artists. In June of 2018 Mare’s song cycle for string quartet + voices premiered at Threes Brewing in Brooklyn. Mare recently played at The Bitter End with the NY Songwriters Circle. Mare had the honor of playing piano with Jolie Holland in September 2023 at the Parlor room, and released a new album, “Dreaming Blue, in October of 2023. She has shared bills playing with different bands with artists such as Alynda from Hurray for the Riff Raff, Xenia Rubinos, Margaret Glaspy, and Valerie June.
Mare’s prose has been published in the New York Times, Tom Tom Magazine, and The Body is Not an Apology. Mare currently teaches songwriting and piano in Northampton, MA, and is the music director of Haydenville Congregational Church. Mare facilitates song circles, leading songs about justice, light, grief, and strength, to help remind people of our interconnection and collective power.