Dr Marian Ingoldsby was born in Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary. She studied composition with Gerald Barry at University College, Cork, graduating with an MA in Composition and winning the Fleischmann Prize in 1995. She is currently a lecturer in the music department of Waterford Institute of Technology.

She has been commissioned by, among others, Opera Theatre Company, which premiered her chamber opera, Hot Food with Strangers in 1991; the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland/Ulster Orchestra; Presteigne International Festival of Music and the Arts, Wales; Cork International Choral Festival; Pearls before Swine, Sweden; and the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition.

Awards include the Macaulay Fellowship (1995) and, in 1996, the first Elizabeth Maconchy Composition Fellowship tenable at the University of York. This enabled her to undertake a DPhil in Composition with Nicola LeFanu which she completed in 2000.