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Eleri Rhiannon Darkins Harpist |
Eleri has a great interest in the Triple Harp, especially playing traditional Welsh folk music. She is very fortunate to have a ‘Gwalia’ Triple Harp made by John Weston Thomas. During 2001, she appeared on a television broadcast in Wales, ‘Cam Ymlaen’ and ‘O Flaen dy Lygaid’. Eleri played the Triple Harp at the opening of the National Assembly in Cardiff, in 1999. Later that year, she performed in California to launch the CD ‘Yn Iaith y Nefoedd - In the Language of Heaven’.
Eleri Darkins was born in South Wales and began playing the harp when she was nine. She has won numerous prizes including the Nansi Richards Scholarship, Alwena Roberts Memorial Scholarship, John Weston Thomas Memorial Prize and many others at National Eisteddfodau.
As a former member of the National Youth Orchestras of Great Britain and Wales, Eleri worked with many internationally renowned conductors including Mathias Bamert, Elgar Howarth and Christopher Adey. Recently, Eleri has performed with the English Symphony Orchestra under William Boughton, and the BBC National Orchestra of Wales under Richard Hickox.
Eleri graduated in 1996 with First Class Honours in Music from University of Wales, Bangor, where she studied under Elinor Bennett, and won the Eric Morris Memorial Prize for the best final year recital. While studying at Bangor she gained her ARCM and was chosen as a concerto soloist, performing Mathias’ Harp Concerto. In 1997, she completed a Postgraduate Certificate in Performance at Trinity College of Music, London studying with Sioned Williams.