Stuart O'Hara started playing and singing music at Merchant Taylors' School Crosby with David Holroyd before going up to Durham University to read for a BA in music, finalising in performance. Voice coaching that started in the North West with Mike Broom continued with Clive Constance alongside a choral scholarship in the choir of Hatfield College Chapel. In addition to this, Stuart was a member of University College Chapel Choir, and deputised for many other choirs (including the Cathedral).


Though mainly occupied by commitments to church music at Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, where he is a lay clerk, Stuart also enjoys playing with ensembles whenever possible (as a percussionist and fretted instrumentalist), playing repertoire from Vivaldi to Mahler to Stockhausen and Cardew. Academic interests include the composers Peter Warlock, Olivier Messiaen, Kenneth Leighton and early music. As a soloist, recent repertoire includes Musorgsky's Songs and Dances of Death, Butterworth’s song cycle A Shropshire Lad, and Messiah.