RHIAN EVANS HARPIST - GRNCM, PPRNCM

Love Story

My love story with the harp began at the tender age of five after seeing a harpist perform on television. Spellbound, I’d open doors and “play” them, pretending they were harps. After three years of constantly begging my parents, one Christmas, there it was. My first harp. I never looked back.

My talent was affirmed with the attribution of numerous prizes and scholarships, and my passion for the harp took me on a musical odyssey to France, studying with outstanding harpist pedagogues Germaine Lorenzini and Isabelle Moretti in Lyon for five years. My next musical destination was South Africa, where I was principal harpist with the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, delving deeper into my love of orchestral playing. Following a brief episode in my homeland, Wales, I returned to the RNCM as a postgraduate student with mentor and trusted friend, Eira Lynn Jones. I evolved musically through exposure to a broad range of artistic and cultural influences and experiences. You can hear this in my playing

Breathing life into the notes

Rural West Yorkshire is home. I love exploring my role as solo performer, chamber musician and pedagogue alongside my orchestral playing, as well as offering a personal musical touch to weddings and special events. Coming up with creative new ways to help my students express themselves with the harp is a particular passion

I have vast experience as an orchestral harpist, performing with the Hallé, Royal Northern Sinfonia and Manchester Camerata, and I’ve worked extensively with the Orchestra of Opera North. I have played in the presence of royalty including Her Majesty the Queen. Celebrity appearances include working with Angela Rippon, Ben Folds, with Sting on his Symphonicity tour and most recently with Lewis Capaldi and Manchester Camerata live at Croxteth Park, Liverpool

When I’m not with my harp, I love swimming, Pilates, running, cooking, writing, reading and relaxing in my garden