Hannah Stone | |
---|---|
Birth name | Hannah Stone |
Born | 1987 (age 36–37) [1] |
Origin | Treboeth, Swansea, Wales |
Genres | Classical |
Occupation(s) | Harpist |
Years active | 2011–present |
Hannah Stone (born 1987) [1] is a professional Welsh harpist.
Since 2007 she has performed internationally and won a number of prizes, and from 2011 to 2015 was Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales.
Stone graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. As part of an exchange programme, she studied at the Universität Mozarteum, Salzburg, under Professor Helga Storck. In 2010 she furthered her studies at Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama (RWCMD), Cardiff, where she graduated in 2012 with a Master of Arts. [2]
Hannah Stone began performing at the age of 8. When she was 15, she played for The Queen on Her Majesty's Jubilee Tour of Wales in 2002, and has played for the Royal Family on several other occasions. [3]
In October 2008, Stone was selected to represent the Guildhall School in collaboration with the Academies Festival Orchestra, Singapore. This project culminated in an opening gala performance for the Singapore Sun Festival at the Esplanade Theatre with Dame Kiri te Kanawa. [3] In 2008 she was awarded the third prize at the Camac Harp Competition, London, and won the first prize at the National Eisteddfod, [4] Cardiff.
During 2010 Stone was awarded the 3rd prize at the International Harp Competition in Caernarfon and 2nd prize at the Franz Joseph Reinl Competition in Vienna. She was also appointed principal harpist with the Schleswig Holstein Festival Orchestra for 2010. [3]
In June 2011 Stone was appointed the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales. [3] [5]
Hannah Stone performed at the NATO Conference Dinner at Cardiff Castle in 2014 to delegates including US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and UK Prime Minister David Cameron. [2]
Stone was born in Swansea and grew up in Treboeth and Mumbles. [6] She married singer Gary Griffiths in the early 2010s, but after two years the couple split up. [7]
In 2017 she had a daughter by Sir Bryn Terfel, [8] whom she married on 26 July 2019 at Caersalem Newydd Baptist Church in Swansea; she does not use the title "Lady Terfel".
The Music of Wales, particularly singing, is a significant part of Welsh national identity, and the country is traditionally referred to as "the land of song".
Welsh National Opera (WNO) is an opera company based in Cardiff, Wales. WNO gave its first performances in 1946. The company began as a mainly amateur body and transformed into an all-professional ensemble by 1973. In its early days, the company gave a single week's annual season in Cardiff, gradually extending its schedule to become an all-year-round operation, with its own salaried chorus and orchestra. It has been described by The New York Times as "one of the finest operatic ensembles in Europe".
Wales Millennium Centre (WMC) is Wales' national arts centre located in the Cardiff Bay area of Cardiff, Wales. The site covers a total area of 4.7 acres (1.9 ha). Phase 1 of the building was opened during the weekend of 26–28 November 2004 and phase 2 opened on 22 January 2009 with an inaugural concert.
Sir Bryn Terfel Jones,, is a Welsh bass-baritone opera and concert singer. Terfel was initially primarily associated with the roles of Mozart, particularly Figaro, Leporello and Don Giovanni, and has subsequently shifted his attention to heavier roles, especially those by Puccini and Wagner.
Nansi Richards Jones was a Welsh harpist, sometimes known as the "Queen of the Harp" or by her bardic name "Telynores Maldwyn".
Calan is a five-piece revivalist traditional Welsh band formed by their manager Huw Williams in early 2006 when its members were only 13 to 22 years old. In 2008, they created great excitement at the Inter Celtic Festival where they would eventually be the first Welsh band to win the coveted international band competition.
The Morriston Orpheus Choir, based in Morriston, near Swansea, Wales, is a male voice choir, one of the best-known in the UK.
Gulnara Mashurova was born in Almaty, Kazakhstan. She started piano studies at the age of 6 and by age 9 was chosen to study harp at the Pre Moscow Conservatory with Natalia Sibor. From 1991 to 1993 she studied with Vera Dulova at the Moscow Conservatory. Mashurova received a bachelor's and master's degree in harp performance from the Juilliard School as a Jerome Green full scholarship recipient studying under Nancy Allen, Principal Harpist of the New York Philharmonic. She received her second Masters in Orchestra Performance with a full scholarship from the Manhattan School of Music studying under Deborah Hoffman, Principal Harpist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra.
Catrin Ana Finch is a Welsh harpist, arranger and composer. She was the Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales from 2000 to 2004 and is visiting professor at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama and the Royal Academy of Music in London. Finch has given recitals at venues throughout the world.
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 was last granted to John Thomas in 1871 by Queen Victoria.
Paul Mealor CLJ FLSW is a Welsh composer. A large proportion of his output is for chorus, both a cappella and accompanied. He came to wider notice when his motet Ubi Caritas et Amor was performed at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton in 2011. He later composed the song "Wherever You Are", which became the 2011 Christmas number one in the UK Singles Chart. He has also composed two operas, four symphonies, concerti and chamber music.
Aled Wyn Davies is a classical tenor from Llanbrynmair, in Powys, Mid Wales. He is a member of the Three Welsh Tenors with Rhys Meirion and Aled Hall.
The Cardiff Philharmonic Orchestra (CPO) is an amateur philharmonic orchestra based in Cardiff, Wales. The CPO played its first concert in 1982 and subsequently played over 250 concerts, primarily in Wales but also in England, Switzerland, and France. The CPO has a wide repertoire and appears regularly at Wales' premier concert hall, St. David's Hall.
Rhys Meirion is a Welsh opera and classical tenor singer. He was born on 24 February 1966 in Blaenau Ffestiniog, Gwynedd. He joined the English National Opera in 1999 and became a company principal from 2001 to 2004. He has also sung leading roles at Oper Frankfurt, West Australian Opera and Opera Australia. His album Benedictus with the bass-baritone Bryn Terfel was nominated for a Classical Brit Award in 2006.
Gwawr Edwards is a Welsh concert soprano. Edwards is best known for her television and radio appearances, and has recorded with Bryn Terfel.
Wynford Evans was a Welsh tenor.
Ruth Maureen Guy was a Welsh mezzo-soprano singer. The youngest of six children of a coal miner, she was influenced by church music in her youth. Guy's debut came at Sadler's Wells Theatre and several of her early engagements were with the London Mozart Players. She became principal mezzo at the Royal Opera House in 1963 and made the first of several appearance at The Proms that same year. In 1969, Guy was selected as one of fifteen soloists to sing at the Investiture of the Prince of Wales and later joined the Opern- und Schauspielhaus Frankfurt in 1972. She took up a teaching position with the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama which she retired from in 1998 to teach privately at her home in Sageston.
Alis Huws is a Welsh harpist from Powys, the sixth and current Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales.
Dunvant Male Choir is the oldest continuously singing Welsh choir and is based in Dunvant, Swansea, Wales.
Mared Emyr Pugh Evans is a Welsh harpist. She is the seventh Official Harpist to the Prince of Wales.