Claire Jones (born in 1985) is a Welsh harpist who held the title of Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales 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 Prince William and Catherine Middleton The wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton took place on Friday, 29 April 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, England. William was second in the line of succession to the British throne at the time, later becoming heir apparent. T ...

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 the ...

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 (Wales), community (population 1,739) in the northeast of Pembrokeshire, Wales. It is situated approximately above sea level at the eastern end of the Preseli Hills, Preseli Mount ...

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; ) is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and otherwise by the sea. Haverfordwest is the largest town and ...

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 (Wales), community of Boncath. It sits on the boundary between the former parishes of Llanfihangel Penbedw and Castellan, Pembrokeshire ...

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 one of the oldest music schools 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 firs ...

. Jones was diagnosed with ME in 2013. Together with her husband she founded the Claire Jones Concert Ensemble from student and professional harpists.

References

External links

*
Claire Jones
on

Classic FM (UK) Classic FM (styled as CLASSIC M) is one of the United Kingdom's three Independent National Radio stations and is owned and operated by Global Media & Entertainment (Global). The station broadcasts classical music and was launched in 1992. Cla ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jones, Claire Living people People from Pembrokeshire Welsh Eisteddfod winners Welsh harpists 1985 births People with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome British women harpists Welsh women musicians 21st-century Welsh musicians 21st-century British women musicians