Claire Jones (born in 1985) is a Welsh harpist who held the title of
Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales The Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales is a position within the Royal Household. In 2000, King Charles III, the then Prince of Wales, revived a tradition of having Welsh harpists, which was the first time the post has been occupied since it wa ...
from 2007 to 2011.
Career
Jones began playing the harp at the age of 10; she performed for the Queen and Duke of Edinburgh when she was 16. In 2007, she was one of the inaugural winners of The Prince of Wales’s Advanced Study in Music Award, and was appointed as the Prince's
official harpist for a 3-year term. During the previous year, she had won the harp solo at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, been a finalist at the Third International Harp Contest in France, and won the Royal College of Music Harp Competition. She performed at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge in 2011
and is an ambassador for
The Prince's Foundation for Children and The Arts
Children & the Arts is an independent charity that provides access to professional arts venues for young people in the UK who would otherwise grow up having had no, or very limited opportunity, to engage with the arts. The charity works across th ...
.
Selection of recordings
* ''Touching Gold'', Kissan Productions, 2008
* ''Harp Concertos'', Signum Records, 2010
* ''
Highgrove Suite'', Classic FM, 2010
* ''The Girl with the Golden Harp'', Classic FM, 2012.
* ''Live at Classic FM: Sir James Galway & Claire Jones'', Global Radio, 2013
* ''Journey: Harp to soothe the soul'', Silva Screen Records (under licence from Marshall Jones Music), 2015
Personal life
Jones was born in
Crymych
Crymych () is a village of around 800 inhabitants and a community (population 1,739) in the northeast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated approximately above sea level at the eastern end of the Preseli Mountains, on the old Tenby to Cardiga ...
,
Pembrokeshire
Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...
and attended school there.
In 2012, at
Blaenffos
Blaenffos is a small village of around 200 inhabitants in the north of Pembrokeshire, Wales, in the community of Boncath. It sits on the boundary between the former parishes of Llanfihangel Penbedw and Castellan Chapelry (part of Penrydd parish).
...
Chapel, Pembrokeshire, she married musician Chris Marshall, whom she had met at the
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...
.
Jones was diagnosed with
ME in 2013. She is the face of
Clogau Gold of Wales.
Together with her husband she founded the Claire Jones Concert Ensemble from student and professional harpists.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Claire
Living people
People from Pembrokeshire
Welsh Eisteddfod winners
Welsh harpists
1985 births
People with chronic fatigue syndrome
Women harpists
Welsh women musicians
21st-century Welsh musicians
21st-century British women musicians