Festival Course

Course Tutors

Alis Huws

Course Tutor

Current Official Royal Harpist, Alis Huws is a freelance soloist, orchestral and chamber musician. Alongside her royal role, she regularly gives recitals across the UK and internationally, having toured to Japan, Europe, the US and Hong Kong.

As a soloist, Alis has performed at many high-profile engagements including the Welsh National Service of Prayer and Reflection for HM Queen Elizabeth II, The Royal Opening of the Senedd 2016 and 2021, The Welsh National Thanksgiving Service for VJ Day and the opening of the Welsh Government’s offices in Berlin. She has performed at a number of prestigious venues including Sony Hall (NYC), 10 Downing Street, Windsor Castle, St James’ Palace and St David’s Hall. In 2019 she appeared as a soloist with Britten Sinfonia, which was later broadcast on Classic FM. Additionally her work has been broadcast on BBC Radio 4, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and all major UK television channels.

Alis is passionate about outreach and bringing music into communities, giving regular interactive concerts for people living with dementia as well as working with children with additional needs. She recently embarked on a tour of 30 primary schools across rural Powys to celebrate 30 years of Live Music Now’s work in Wales.

Catrin Morris Jones

Course Tutor

Catrin Morris Jones studied at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music, London where she was awarded the Renata Scheffel-Stein Prize for Harp. In May 2014 she was elected as an Associate of the Royal Academy. Originally from Bangor and after twenty-five years of living and working in London, she has now moved to live in Pwllheli.

Teaching children and adults to play the harp has been an important part of Catrin’s career and she has taught many students over the years in addition to teaching at various schools, including Ysgol Gymraeg Llundain (London Welsh School) where her children attended. She is now a tutor at William Mathias Music Center and for the Gwynedd and Anglesey Schools Music Service.

She has performed in numerous West End shows including Oliver!, Phantom of the Opera, The King and I, Notré Dame de Paris, The Producers, My Fair Lady, Napoleon, The Secret Garden and South Pacific (Royal National Theatre). Catrin has also performed with many prominent orchestras, including: BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, Philharmonia,  Royal Philharmonic and Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestras, the Hallé Orchestra, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, Ensemble 10/10, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra, Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, the Royal Opera House Orchestra, Glyndebourne Touring Orchestra, English Touring Opera, Garsington Opera Orchestra, the Opera São Carlos in Lisbon, Portugal, London City Ballet, Moscow City Ballet and the Northern Ballet Company.

Tudur Eames

Course Tutor 

Originally from Pwllheli, Tudur began studying the harp whilst at secondary school with Gwennant Pyrs and then Elinor Bennett. He went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music, having harp lessons with David Watkins.

Tudur was a freelance musician for several years before settling into the world of education. He was a Head of Music at a London school before returning to Wales to teach at Ysgol Glan Clwyd in St Asaph. He is currently the Creative Director at the Gwynedd and Môn Schools Music Service.

As well as playing the harp, Tudur is a pianist and accompanist, a choral director, a vocal coach, a musical director, and a busy adjudicator. He is very much looking forward to being part of this year’s Harp Festival.

Mared Emlyn

Course Tutor 

A graduate of Bangor University, Mared completed a doctorate in performance on the harp and composition in 2014 with a scholarship funded by the European Union. In 2011, she won the Urdd National Eisteddfod’s Chief Composition medal for her work Perlau yn y Glaw for solo harp, which is now performed regularly at different harp competitions and festivals. Mared performs in concerts as a soloist, as part of ensembles and as a member of orchestras. She has received a number of composition commissions, including works for the Wales International Piano Festival, Colwyn Male Voice Choir, a work for the Bangor Music Festival premiered by the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, and a harp concerto for the Beaumaris Festival, performed by the Welsh Chamber Orchestra, with Mared herself as the soloist. In 2018, she collaborated with musician Gwenan Gibbard and poet Mererid Hopwood on a commission by the Wales International Harp Festival to celebrate the world renowned harpist Osian Ellis’ 90th birthday. Recently, Mared was commissioned by Opra Cymru to write an opera for children and families: Cyfrinach y Brenin, which toured Wales in September 2022.

Amanda Whiting

Amanda shall be holding a jazz workshop as part of the Festival Course. 

Welsh harpist Amanda Whiting has very quickly established herself as an essential part of the UK jazz scene. 

With her classical training, she has carved out her own unique sound following in the paths forged by Ashby and Coltrane.

Touring extensively with her own band as well as previously with Matthew Halsall, Chip Wickham, DJ Yoda and Rebecca Vasmant, she endlessly delivers immense beauty and depth from the stage. Her Cheltenham Jazz set 2023 was Cerys Matthews’ “highlight of the festival”. Add to that three incredibly successful albums (“highly recommended” by Jamie Cullum, BBC Radio 2) for the legendary Jazzman record label and a nomination for Instrumentalist of The Year at the Jazz FM awards and you get a picture of a hugely important talent. 

In November 2023, Amanda released two albums; a  remix album of Lost in Abstraction  out on Albert’s Favourites and a collaboration with Don Leisure on her new label First Word Records. Her new solo album  “The Liminality of Her” will be out in March 2024.

Amanda currently teaches Jazz harp at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Cardiff and Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. As a composer she has 23 pieces on Trinity Music College Exam syllabus,  as well as having  a prestigious Harp Column Studio.