The Board of Musicfest Aberystwyth is delighted to announce that from 2023 onwards, our new Artistic Director will be Catrin Finch, the international superstar harpist who hails from Llanon. David Campbell, the present Director, had expressed his wish to retire in 2022 after more than 20 years of dedicated and inspiring leadership. This was going to be a hard role to fill.
Musicfest needed a top-flight musician with a high profile, a wide range of contacts in the musical world, and thorough commitment. With perfect timing, Catrin was planning to make some adjustments to her life after a stellar career and was pleased to be given the chance to lead and develop a prominent festival in her home county.
Harpist and composer, Catrin Finch, has delighted audiences with her performances in the UK and worldwide for several decades. Inspired to learn the harp at the age of 5, her rise to prominence started almost immediately, achieving the highest mark in the UK for her Grade Eight exam at the age of nine. 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 HRH the Prince of Wales. Holding the appointment from 2000–2004, she had the honour of reviving this ancient tradition last held in 1873. She has performed extensively throughout the US, 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. She 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. 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. Catrin has recently been appointed Professor and Head of Harp at Royal Academic of Music in London from September 2022.
She said, “I was looking for a way to give back to Ceredigion, which nurtured my musical life, and set me on my career. This was the perfect opportunity. I am looking forward to getting down to work on the 2023 festival in the next months. I hope to be able to take Musicfest out to other parts of the county, and I look forward to seeing how we can cooperate with the County Music Service.” The final concert of Musicfest Aberystwyth this year, on 30th July 2022, will feature both David Campbell and Catrin Finch, and is sure to be an emotional occasion. Catrin will officially take up the role of Artistic Director from August 2022, after several months of handover meetings with David Campbell, Associate Artistic Director Nathan James Dearden, Festival Manager Joan Rowlands, and the rest of the Musicfest board and operational team.
MusicFest Aberystwyth is one of the UK’s leading classical music festivals with the unique fusion of a summer school and showcasing international musicians in the heart of Aberystwyth and across Ceredigion. The festival provides a first-class concert programme, including a blend of the most exciting historic and new music, showcasing young artists from across the world, and bringing industry specialists, young people, and music enthusiasts together through immersive and collaborative programmes each summer.
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