Catrin Finch

Catrin Finch on stage at Lorient, Brittany, 2008

Catrin Anna Finch (born 24 April 1980) is a Welsh harpist, arranger and composer. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004[1] and is Visiting Professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music. Finch has given many recitals at different venues throughout the world.

Early life

Finch was born in Llanon, Ceredigion, and began learning the harp at the age of six. Her mother is German and her father English, but she is a fluent Welsh speaker.[2] By the age of nine, she had passed her Grade VIII harp examination.[3] She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of ten, becoming the youngest of its members to play at The Proms. [4] She studied harp with Elinor Bennett, who would become her mother-in-law, and later with Skaila Kanga at the Purcell School of Music in London.[5]

During the 1990s, Finch won several competitions for young harpists, including the Nansi Richards Prize and the Blue Riband at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.[5]

Career

Finch's first international success was her 1999 victory in the Lily Laskine International Harp Competition in France.[3] In 2000, she won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York City,[3] subsequently performing at London's Wigmore Hall.[5] She was later appointed Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales, an office unfilled since the reign of Queen Victoria.[1] She continued in the post from 2000 to 2004.[6]

In recognition of her musical achievements, Finch was awarded an Honorary Fellowship from the University of Wales in 2006, as well as Honorary Fellowships from the University of Wales and the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in 2005. She is a visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music.[3]

In 2010, Catrin Finch appeared as part of the BBC Children's television series ZingZillas, performing a lullaby composed by Chris Banks and Wag Marshall-Page entitled "Drift Away", alongside the other members of the ZingZillas band. The performance was used in Series 1, Episode 10 of the show, entitled "Sweet Dreams".[7]

In 2015, Finch toured Patagonia with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, taking her family with her.[8]

Personal life

In 2003, Finch married Hywel Wigley, the son of the former Plaid Cymru leader Dafydd Wigley. In the same year, she presented Charlie’s Angel, an award-winning television documentary about her career, broadcast on BBC Wales. On 28 December 2007, Finch gave birth to her first child, Ana Gwen.[9] A second daughter, Peggy, was born in 2010.[10]

Finch and her husband jointly run a music centre and studio in Cardiff and have their own record label, Acapela, on which Finch now records.[6]

Discography

References

  1. 1 2 "Catrin Finch Official Harpist". BBC Wales. 5 November 2009. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Classic FM meets Catrin Finch". Classic FM. 7 April 2016. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "Catrin Finch". Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  4. ↑ Said, SF; Culshaw, Peter (1 November 2004). "It takes some pluck". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 September 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Catrin Finch Biography". Sain Records. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  6. 1 2 "Harpist Catrin Finch to release new album and set off on tour". Daily Post. 13 March 2015. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  7. ↑ Walters, Josh; Skarsten, Richard. "Zingzillas: Series 1, Episode 10: Sweet Dreams". Retrieved 25 August 2010.
  8. ↑ Finch, Catrin. "Catrin Finch's Patagonia diary: 'Wales survives here through music'". The Guardian. Retrieved 7 April 2016.
  9. ↑ "Catrin Finch: having a baby's changed my life". icWales.com. 3 February 2007. Retrieved 11 May 2007.
  10. ↑ "Harpist Catrin Finch on tour after birth of daughter". BBC News. 2 March 2010. Retrieved 7 April 2016.

External links

Court offices
Preceded by
(new post)		 Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales
2000–2004 		Succeeded by
Jemima Phillips
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