Llywelyn Ifan Jones

Llywelyn Ifan Jones

“This is no demure tinkling. Expect to be drawn to the very edge of your seat by the commitment, warmth, and fluency of his playing.” A powerful description by BBC’s Hinterland composer John Hardy to describe the 1st prize winner of the 2020 Camac Harp Competition at the North London Festival. Llywelyn Ifan Jones now looks forward to performing at the World Harp Congress in 2021. He was scheduled to perform at the Wigmore Hall in June 2020 as an H R Taylor Trust Scholar at the Royal College of Music.

Llywelyn was invited to perform the harp cadenza for Dorset Opera’s 2019 critically acclaimed production of Lucia de Lammermoor. This was also a prize-winning year for Llywelyn placing in three international competitions; Llangollen International Eisteddfod, the North International Music Competition, and the New Stars Competition. Llywelyn completed his postgraduate studies at the Universität Mozarteum in Salzburg where he was mentored by Stephen Fitzpatrick and was 1st prize winner of the Savarez-Corelli Kammermusik Competition. He continues his Harp studies with Stephen Fitzpatrick as well as Ieuan Jones and Jana Boušková on the Artist Diploma programme at the Royal College of Music.

Prior to his time in Salzburg, he studied the harp with Caryl Thomas at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where he was the recipient of numerous awards including the Mansel Thomas Award, the Royal Welsh Fusiliers Award, and on two occasions, the Daniel Emlyn Davies Award. He won the prestigious Lyon and Healy Award and the first prize recipient at both the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and the Pencerdd Gwalia Competition.

Llywelyn has performed Sir Karl Jenkins’ concerto In These Stones Horizons Sing alongside Gary Griffiths, conducted by the composer himself hosted by the Milford Haven Music Festival. Apart from recent work with the Royal Opera House, he performs regularly with British Sinfonietta, British Philharmonic Concert Orchestra, and Southern Sinfonia. He has also performed a U.K. tour with the Russell Watson Orchestra. His accolades also include performing Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in Salzburg during Mozart Week.