Catrin Finch was born in Llanon, Ceredigion, and began learning the harp at the age of six. Her mother is German and her father English, and she is a fluent Welsh speaker.[2] By the age of nine, she had passed her grade VIII harp examination.[3] She was a member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain at the age of ten, becoming the youngest of its members to play at The Proms.[4] She studied harp with Elinor Bennett, who would become her mother-in-law, before attending the Purcell School, a specialist music school for children in Hertfordshire. She continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London where she studied harp with Skaila Kanga.[5][3][6]
In 2010, Finch appeared as part of the BBC children's television series ZingZillas, performing a lullaby composed by Chris Banks and Wag Marshall-Page entitled "Drift Away", alongside the other members of the ZingZillas band. The performance was used in series 1, episode 10 of the show, entitled "Sweet Dreams".[9]
2011 saw Finch produce the album Annwn where she arranged, performed and for the first time provided vocals on a number of tracks influenced by Welsh mythology, an interest of hers since she was young. Featuring a collection of traditional Welsh music, many tracks are newly arranged by Finch in a contemporary style, borrowing from jazz as well as electronic ambient music. The album title refers to Annwn, the Otherworld in Welsh mythology.[10]
Until 2017 Finch and her then husband Hywel Wigley jointly ran Acapela Studio, a recording facility and venue in a converted chapel in Pentyrch, near Cardiff.[7][13]
In 2018 Finch released her second album with Senegalese kora player Seckou Keita, entitled SOAR.[14][15] Reviewing it for the London Evening Standard, Simon Broughton described the work: "A sublime duo of two artists who are masters of their instruments... musicality and architecture at work." Robin Denselow in The Guardian said: "an intriguing collaboration that really works... the interaction is remarkable…an elegant, gently exquisite set".[16]
Finch performed with classically trained Irish folk violinist Aoife Ní Bhriain at the March 2021 Other Voices online festival, playing a duet of Johann Sebastian Bach's Partita No 3. This led to a collaboration between them that produced the 2023 album Double You, a mixture of adaptations of classical pieces and folk tunes from Ireland, Brittany and Wales, along with their own compositions.[17][18][19]
Personal life
In 2003, Finch married the music and television producer Hywel Wigley, son of the former Plaid Cymru leader Lord Dafydd Wigley and the harpist Elinor Bennett.[6][13] They have two children together. The couple formally separated in 2017. On 14 December 2019, Finch married her partner Natalie in Tenby.[20]
In February 2018 Finch announced on that she had been diagnosed with grade 3 breast cancer.[21] She was given the all-clear in October 2018 following treatment at Velindre Cancer Centre, Cardiff.
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