[2] Her first public appearance was at the age of twenty-two as Maria Hester Reynolds in the Hanover Square concert series with a concerto on the harpsichord.
She played a Clementi duet with Jane Mary Guest on 29 April 1783, a concerto at Willis's Rooms in March 1784 and a performance as Mrs Park ("late Reynolds") in May 1791.
[2] After her marriage in London in April 1787 to Thomas Park, an engraver turned antiquarian and man of letters,[3] she ended her career as a performer, although she earned even more fame as composer and teacher.
[3] It has been said of Maria Hester Park that she was "hugely popular in the elegant drawing rooms of eighteenth century England" and that she "made her living composing the sort of music performed by Jane Austen heroines.".
Mozartean features apparent in her Sonata in F include a constant bass line of straight eighth notes that form the outlines of chords, and a distinct melody with ornamentation.