Maria Theresia Paradis was an Austrian composer, pianist, organist and singer. Born the daughter of an Imperial Secretary and Court Councillor, she was named after the Empress Maria Theresa. Maria Theresia Paradis lost her sight completely by the time she was five years of age.

 Paradis received an eclectic musical education. She received keyboard instruction from Leopold Kozeluch and voice instruction from Vincenzo Righini. She was also coached by Antonio Salieri in the ways of operatic composition and Abbe Vogler and Carl Friberth in theory.

Paradis began performing in public concert halls and salons around 1775. She reportedly had an extremely acute sense of hearing and was able to perform over 60 concertos from memory. Mozart, Haydn, and Salieri all composed concertos for her. Maria began composing solo piano music during this time. The earliest music attributed to her is a set of three piano sonatas written in 1777. The authenticity of these works is uncertain and many scholars believe them to be the work of Pietro Domenico Paradies. Most of her works from this period are unfortunately lost.

Paradis' career as a performer took her on a tour of Paris and London in 1783. The Journal de Paris said," One must have heard her to form an idea of the touch, the precision, the fluency and vividness of her playing." Before leaving Paris, she assisted Valentin Hauy in establishing the first school for the blind, opened in 1785.

Paradis returned to Vienna in 1786 after an unsuccessful tour of the major salons in London. Her earliest authentic work appeared during this period. The collection of songs for voice and piano, Zwoelf Lieder auf ihrer Reise in Musik gesetzt, was composed sometime between 1784 and 1786. Between 1789 and 1797 Paradis wrote no less than three cantatas and five operas. In 1797 she left Vienna to oversee the first production of her opera Rinaldo und Alcina in Prague.

Paradis devoted more and more time to teaching after the failure of Rinaldo und Alcina. She founded her own school of music in 1808 where she taught piano, singing, and theory. She also started a Sunday afternoon concert series to highlight the talents of her young students. She taught until her death in 1824.