Catrin Finch

Born in Llanon, a village in Wales’s Ceredigion county, harpist Catrin Finch began playing the instrument at age six and joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain four years later. Her principal teachers were Elinor Bennett and, at London’s Purcell School of Music, Skaila Kanga. Early successes included first prizes at the Nansi Richards Harp Scholarship Competition, the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and the Lily Laskine Harp Competition; in 2000 she also won the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, which brought about her Wigmore Hall debut. From that period until 2004 she served as Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales. Finch holds several honorary fellowships and maintains teaching posts at both the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the Royal Academy of Music. Beyond performance she composes and arranges for the harp and has worked with composer Karl Jenkins on multiple recordings, issuing discs on the Sony, Decca, Deutsche Grammophon, and additional labels.