Born in Pembrokeshire, Wales in 1985, Claire began her musical education at the age of seven. She soon excelled in three instruments Harp, Violin, and Piano and achieved three grade 8 distinctions at the age of 14. Claire studied harp with Buddug Stephens until entering the Royal College of Music at 18 years old where she then studied with Ieuan Jones, graduating with 1st class honors in 2007. In 2009 Claire graduated as an M.A. scholar from the Royal Academy of Music where she studied with Professor Skaila Kanga. Claire was one of the first recipients of the Prince of Wales Advanced Study Awards in 2007 and 2008. This award recognising her as one of Wales’ most outstanding young musicans. She is also supported by the Victor Salvi Foundation, the Cork Fund, the Countess of Munster Trust, and the Harriet Cohen Memorial Music Award. In 2007, Claire was appointed Official Harpist to His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales and regularly performs for the Royal Family and distinguished guests at the Royal palaces. Claire made her concerto debut with the English Chamber Orchestra in the same year. In 2008, she performed a concerto with the Philharmonia Orchestra, conducted by Owain Arwel Hughes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. This was a performance of a special commission written for His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales’ 60th birthday by Patrick Hawes. The event culminated in a surprise choir of 60 harps organized by Claire. She has also performed solo concertos with such illustrious ensembles as the European Union Chamber Orchestra, the Ulster Symphony Orchestra, and the Royal Academy of Music Soloists. A highlight was being invited to perform as soloist with the world renowned conductor Maestro Gergiev and the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet. At the opening of the International Rugby games in 2008, Wales V South Africa, Prince William Cup saw Claire play to a sell out crowd of 75,000 and 4 million viewers on BBC. 2009 Highlights included a sold out recital at Topkapi Palace, Istanbul, concerto appearances with the English Chamber Orchestra, and a duo recording with Julian Lloyd Webber. 2009 also saw the launch of a brand new exciting duo with talented percussionist and arranger – Chris Marshall. Claire has performed throughout the UK at all major music festivals and concert venues. In 2010, Claire performed the private premiere of the ‘Highgrove Suite’ at HRH’s residence, Highgrove House – a work written in celebration of the work of the Prince’s Foundation for Children and the Arts by Patrick Hawes. It is released on Classic FM label. She also features as soloist on a CD from the National Youth Choir of Scotland - which features the Britten ‘Ceremony of Carols’, and ‘An English Day-book’, by Elizabeth Poston, released by Signum Classics. Other notable artists Claire has collaborated with include Bryn Terfel, Alfie Bow, William Bennett OBE, to name only a few. Claire also performed as a soloist on a Mediterranean cruise with the English Chamber Orchestra, Joshua Bell and Steven Isselis, and has entertained many International audiences and cruise ship passengers through her solo recitals. She has appeared on many major TV and radio networks in the UK, and America including GMTV, BBC, Classic FM and Radio 3, and also featured in a BBC 2 documentary about the ‘Highgrove Suite’ presented by Alan Titchmarsh, as well as being regularly seen on S4C – the Welsh TV network. - 11 - Passionate to promote the harp to all, Claire has been a featured artist in Classic FM Magazine. She encourages youngsters to play the harp through her workshops in schools, and takes great pride in being an ambassador by encouraging and inspiring the next generation of young harpists.

The English Chamber Orchestra (ECO) is the most recorded chamber orchestra in the world, its discography containing 860 recordings of over 1,500 works by more than 400 composers.

The ECO has also performed in more countries than any other orchestra, and played with many of the world’s greatest musicians. The American radio network CPRN has selected ECO as one of the world’s greatest ‘living’ orchestras. The illustrious history of the orchestra features many major musical figures. Benjamin Britten was the orchestra’s first Patron and a significant musical influence.

The ECO’s long relationship with Daniel Barenboim led to an acclaimed complete cycle of Mozart piano concertos as live performances and recordings, followed later by two further recordings of the complete cycle, with Murray Perahia and Mitsuko Uchida.

The Orchestra has been chosen to record many successful film soundtracks including Dario Marianelli’s prizewinning scores for Atonement and Pride and Prejudice, and several James Bond soundtracks, and has taken part in a variety of other film and television projects.

Acclaimed for his inspirational performances and eloquent musicianship, Paul Watkins enjoys a distinguished career as concerto soloist, chamber musician and conductor. He has been the Artistic Director of the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in Detroit since 2014, was the cellist of the Emerson String Quartet from 2013 to 2023, and has been Professor of Cello at the Yale School of Music since 2018. He took first prize in the 2002 Leeds Conducting Competition, and has held the positions of Music Director of the English Chamber Orchestra and Principal Guest Conductor of the Ulster Orchestra.

Watkins has given regular concerto performances with the major British orchestras, including at the BBC Proms, where he most recently performed with the BBC Symphony and Thomas Adès in Lutoslawski’s cello concerto, and with the BBC National Orchestra of Wales in the world premiere of the cello concerto composed for him by his brother, Huw Watkins. He has performed with prestigious orchestras across the globe including the Netherlands Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, Melbourne Symphony and Queensland Orchestras, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Hong Kong Philharmonic, Colorado Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony, and the Orchestra Nazionale Sinfonica della RAI Torino, under the baton of renowned conductors including Paavo Berglund, Leonard Slatkin, Sakari Oramo, Gianandrea Noseda, Sir Mark Elder, Richard Hickox, Sir Andrew Davis, and Sir Charles Mackerras. He premiered (and was the dedicatee of) Mark-Anthony Turnage’s new concerto with the Antwerp Symphony and Edo de Waart, the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra and Hannu Lintu, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra and Vasily Petrenko, and the Gewandhausorchester Leipzig and Andris Nelsons.

A dedicated chamber musician, Watkins was a member of the Nash Ensemble from 1997 until 2013, and the Emerson String Quartet from 2013 until 2023. With the Quartet he travelled extensively, performing at major international festivals including Tanglewood, Aspen, Ravinia, Edinburgh, Berlin and Evian and collaborated with distinguished artists such as Emanuel Ax, Yefim Bronfman, Renée Fleming and Evgeny Kissin. After 44 successful seasons, the Quartet decided to retire, and undertook an extensive series of farewell tours, culminating in their final performances at New York’s Lincoln Center in October 2023, which were filmed for a documentary by acclaimed filmmaker Tristan Cook. They also released a final recording of Berg, Chausson, Schoenberg and Hindemith featuring prestigious guests, soprano Barbara Hannigan and pianist Bertrand Chamayou.

His extensive discography as a cellist includes a wide range of repertoire for Chandos Records, including Britten’s Cello Symphony, the concertos of Delius, Elgar, Finzi, Lutoslawski, Walton, Tobias Picker and Cyril Scott, and recitals of Mendelssohn, Martinu, and 20th century British and American music for cello and piano with Huw Watkins. He has recorded the Britten solo cello suites and twentieth century British repertoire for Nimbus, Takemitsu’s Orion and Pleiades for BIS Records, and as a conductor, music by Mozart, Glière, Röntgen, and a Grammy® nominated pairing of the Berg and Britten violin concertos with Daniel Hope. Watkins plays on a cello made by Domenico Montagnana and Matteo Goffriller in Venice, c.1730.