Margaret Lobo
Margaret Lobo was born in Vancouver, British Columbia. She came to the United Kingdom in 1964 after a promising career as an Opera singer came to an abrupt end when a case of bulbar poliomyelitis temporarily paralyzed one of her vocal cords. Margaret was introduced to Otakar Kraus OBE and, after four years of intensive technical work, was able to resume a successful singing career; she also pursued a successful business career with Esso for 20 years. As a mature student she qualified as a music therapist in 1990 at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama where she also taught singing.
Since then Margaret has devoted her life to providing music therapy for people of all ages who have physical, psychological, behavioral or learning difficulties. She is the Director/Founder of the Otakar Kraus Music Trust – a Music Therapy Charity – a main service provider of music therapy in West London & Home Counties. With its headquarters in Twickenham, it now has 15 Outreach Centres and provides more than 2,000 individual music therapy sessions annually.
She been invited to be a part of the worldwide programme of "Inspirational Women from around the World" and is also one of their named Mentors; as part of this the National Portrait Gallery have agreed to allow the portraits of all these inspirational women to be exhibited for a week from the 18th September 2007. Margaret has used her outstanding communication and administrative skills so fully that she was nominated for the prestigious Beacon Prize in 2003 for her philanthropic endeavours in the UK. Her ability to make a difference through music therapy in the UK and now in India was recognised in 2007 by the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce who awarded her a Fellowship (FRSA).
Margaret has developed a remarkable reputation specializing in working with people with various neurological conditions such as Parkinson’s, strokes, brain damage and other special needs. Those professional singers studying this work, having recovered their damaged voices have gone on to perform with major opera houses all over the world.

Many of her students have become members of Opera Unlimited, founded by Margaret herself, to become the fundraising arm of the Otakar Kraus Music Trust. As the area co-coordinator for the Association of Professional Music Therapists (APMT), Margaret established an advice centre for individuals or groups within the UK and abroad seeking guidance, information and training on Voice and Music Therapy, acting as advisor and liaison to parents/guardians, health and care workers, social workers, health authorities and doctors.
In April 2004 Margaret was invited by the Millennium Trust to give a presentation on her work at their International Conference in Delhi. She was at the same time invited to speak to the Autistic Society of Mumbai and Delhi, resulting in the Otakar Kraus Music Trust establishing the first Postgraduate Diploma in music therapy in India, to train and support Indian musicians to qualify as professional music therapists. It aims to also raise awareness of the benefits of music therapy in India, where it is not yet practiced and where the need is enormous.
Now known in India as The Music Therapy Trust it is a registered charity and will train students locally to become qualified music therapists. With support from local partners as well as Reliance and the Bharti Foundation the Trust is getting ready to run the first programme in 2007.
Margaret’s recent work with young people suffering from various addictions such as cannabis induced psychosis has highlighted the need for immediate help in this area. She is in the process of setting up a specific music therapy programme working with experts in other fields to include counselling, group therapy, meditation, relaxation techniques and martial arts. In 2007 she will also start a music group for mothers with handicapped and non-handicapped babies and a group for mothers suffering from post-natal depression.
Author of numerous articles, Margaret has published in national and local newspapers. Her work has been featured in the BBC documentary "The Power of Music" introduced by Sir Paul McCartney, on ITV, and recently several shorts for MTV. Her work has also been filmed for documentaries in both Denmark and Germany. She regularly features on radio broadcasts commenting on the importance of singing and correct use of the breath. Back to Carmen, Edison, Liz, Maja and Sumi ...