Biography:

Described as “The Queen of Harps”, Catrin has delighted audiences with her performances in the UK and worldwide. Inspired to learn the harp at the age of five, her rise to prominence started almost immediately, achieving the highest mark in the UK for her Grade VIII exam at the age of nine.  She studied with Elinor Bennett for eight years before entering the Purcell School. Catrin graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in 2002 where she studied with Skaila Kanga and received the Queen’s Award for the most outstanding student of her year.

Her first major competition success came in 1999 winning the Lily Laskine International Harp Competition in France, one of the premier harp competitions in the world.  On winning the Young Concert Artists International Auditions in New York, Catrin went on to play in over thirty states in the USA, including recitals and concerto debuts in New York, Boston and Washington D.C.  In May 2004 she was nominated for a Classical Brit Award and has also received an “Echo Klassik” in Germany.

Catrin is the former Royal Harpist to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.  Holding the appointment from 2000-2004, she had the honour of reviving this ancient tradition last held in 1873.  During her period as Royal Harpist she played regularly at the Royal Palaces and performed to Royalty from around the world.

She has performed extensively throughout the U.S.A., the Middle East, Asia and Europe.  She has appeared with many of the world’s top orchestras including the Boston Pops, the New York Philharmonic, the Philharmonia, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields at the Barbican’s Mostly Mozart Festival, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the London Mozart Players, the English Chamber Orchestra, the Charlotte Symphony, the Lake Charles Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony and the Manchester Camerata.

2005/06 highlights included her concerto debut at the Lincoln Centre for the Mostly Mozart Festival, a recital at the Weill Recital Hall in New York, her debut at the Salzburg Festival, a performance at the MDR Musiksommer Festival in Leipzig and an appearance at the Edinburgh International Festival.

2006/2007 saw a return to the Welsh Proms at Cardiff’s St. David’s Hall and the Spoleto festival in South Carolina, a concert tour of Japan, concerts in Istanbul and the Isle of Man, a UK tour of her big band ‘CF47’, performances in South America, and concerts throughout Wales and the UK.

In 2008 Catrin made her debut in Hong Kong and toured Scandinavia with Welsh bass-baritone, Bryn Terfel.  She joined the London Mozart Players on a concert tour, returned to the MDR Musiksommer Festival and performed at the Inter-Celtique Festival in Lorient, Brittany.

2008 also saw the opening of “Acapela”, a converted chapel on the outskirts of Cardiff which Catrin and her husband Hywel have transformed into a recording studio and concert venue. More information is at www.acapela.co.uk

2009 saw Catrin’s recording of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations released by Deutsche Grammophon, followed by a UK concert tour of the Goldberg Variations. Her co-operation with world music performers continued in March 2009 when she toured the UK with Cimarron from Colombia followed by a USA concert tour with the North Carolina Symphony Orchestra. 2009 also saw the opening of The 'Catrin Finch Centre' in Wrexham, a new £3M state-of-the-art conference and performance centre at Glyndwr University, named to honour Catrin's contribution to the music industry in Wales - details here

Catrin has appeared on all the major television and radio networks in the UK and many abroad. Among her earliest appearances on TV were two features on the BBC’s ‘Blue Peter’, and since then there have been many appearances on radio and television in the UK. In 2003, Catrin presented a TV documentary about herself entitled ‘Charlie’s Angel’ which was awarded a BAFTA Cymru/Wales award for the best music programme.

She has collaborated closely with composer Karl Jenkins, including the première of a new double harp concerto commissioned by H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.   Catrin is currently working on new works for the harp with composers John Rutter and Howard Goodall.

Catrin has recorded for most of the major international recording companies, including Universal Records, Deutsche Grammophon, EMI and Sony Classical, both solo and with notable artists such as Bryn Terfel, Sir James Galway and Julian Lloyd-Webber.  Her versatility in different musical genres is demonstrated in her many recordings, which range from solo classical recitals and concertos, through to an eclectic cross-over mix and her own 14 piece band “CF47”. She has received honours from the University of Wales Aberystwyth and Bangor, the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and the Royal Academy of Music.  She is a visiting Professor at the latter two musical institutions.

Known for her work within the community and with the younger generation, Catrin is committed to promoting the harp and classical music in general to a new and wider audience.

For a Welsh language version of this biography, please go to www.kissan.co.uk