Welsh harpist and composer Catrin Ana Finch was born in Llanon, Ceredigion, UK in 1960. She started learning the harp at six. By nine, she had passed her Grade VIII harp exam. She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of ten and became the youngest of its members to play at The Proms, a summer season classical music series in London.
Catrin studied harp with Elinor Bennett and later attended the Purcell School, an academic institution for children in Hertfordshire. She continued her music studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she studied harp with Skaila Kanga.
During the 1990s, Finch won several competitions for young harp players, including the Nansi Richards Prize and the Blue Riband at the National Eisteddfod of Wales.
She has performed with many of the world’s top orchestras. She has collaborated with numerous classical and world music acts, including Colombian group Cimarrón and Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita.
Catrin is devoted to promoting the harp and classical music in general to a new and broader audience, through her annual Academi Catrin Finch Academy Summer Harp School, an Annual Harp Fun Day and her ‘Classical Café’ evenings.
In 2022, Catrin Finch and Seckou Keita released another album. Fragments of tunes were drawn from the ‘tune bank’ the pair had accumulated during their numerous soundcheck jams in pre-COVID days. Other pieces were gleaned from side-projects, a ballet score, TV commissions, festival collaborations, works-in-progress and experimentation.
Discography:
Carnaval de Venise (Sain, 2001)
From Coast to Coast (Kissan Productions, 2002)
Crossing the Stone (Sony Music, 2003)
The Harpist (Sony Classical, 2004)
Barddoniaeth Daear / Poetry Of Earth, with Jeremy Huw Williams (Sain, 2005)
Live – Byw (Kissan Productions, 2006)
Unexpected Songs, with cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (2006)
String Theory (Kissan Productions, 2007)
Little Angels (Kissan Productions, 2007)
Bach: Goldberg Variations (Deutsche Grammophon, 2009)
Annwn (Kissan Productions, 2011)
Blessing, with John Rutter (Deutsche Grammophon, 2012)
Clychau Dibon, with Seckou Keita (Astar Artes Recordings, 2013)
Lullabies (Deutsche Grammophon, 2013)
Tides (Kissan Productions, 2015)
Soar, with Seckou Keita (Bendigedig, 2018)
Echo, with Seckou Keita (Bendigedig, 2022)
Author: Angel Romero
Angel Romero y Ruiz has dedicated his life to musical exploration. His efforts included the creation of two online portals, worldmusiccentral.org and musicasdelmundo.com. In addition, Angel is the co-founder of the Transglobal World Music Chart, a panel of world music DJs and writers that celebrates global sounds. Furthermore, he delved into the record business, producing world music studio albums and compilations. His works have appeared on Alula Records, Ellipsis Arts, Indígena Records and Music of the World.