Catrin Finch

Catrin Finch (* 1980 in Llanon in Ceredigion ) is a Welsh harpist, composer and arranger.

Finch learned from five years of harp ( after hearing the Spanish harpist Marisa Robles ) and was from the age of ten years a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain and joined with him on at the Proms. She studied from early youth Celtic harp at the leading Welsh harpist Elinor Bennett ( b. 1943 ). In 1991 she won the first prize in the youth section at the World Harp Festival in 1994 and a second prize in the section for adults. From 1996 she studied at the Purcell School Skaila Kanga and from 1998 at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2000, she won the Young Concert Artists International Competition in New York City and won was 2000-2004 Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales, a title which was no longer awarded since 1873. Previously, she had played on the celebration of the 50th birthday of Prince Charles.

She plays both classical ( for example, they took in 2009 a CD of the Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach for harp with Deutsche Grammophon, the first such recording and transcription ) as well as a crossover musician.

She gives concerts worldwide and releasing several albums under his own name, including 2002 The Harpist ( from their U.S. tour ) and 2003 Crossing the Stone (Sony, with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and works by Karl Jenkins ). They also arranged for big band and published with their Big Band CF 47 the album String Theory. With their big band she joined in 2007 at the Brecon Jazz Festival.

She also participated with John Rutter on ( Blessing, German Grammophon in 2012, also with its own composition Celtic Concerto ) and with cellist Julian Lloyd Webber ( Unexpected Songs 2006).

She is a visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (whose Honorary Fellow in 2005 she was ) and at the Royal Academy of Music. In 2006 she was Honorary Fellow of the University of Wales. In 2004 she was nominated for a Classical Brit Award. 2009 Catrin Finch Centre was opened at the Glyndwr University in Wrexham.

She is married to the son of Hywel Elinor Bennett since 2003 and has several daughters. With her husband she founded a recording studio ( and venue ) in a converted church in Cardiff ( Acapela ).

The BBC Wales turned upon them the documentary Charlie 's Angel.