Mared Emyr Pugh-Evans is an international prize-winning harpist from Borth, in mid-west Wales. She gained her MA (Performance) degree from the Royal Academy of Music in 2022, where she studied under Karen Vaughan. She also achieved her LRAM whilst studying for her final year and received a DipRAM certificate for her Final Performance. She graduated from RWCMD, Cardiff in 2020 with a First-Class (Honours) Bachelor of Music degree and also achieved her DipABRSM (Instrumental Teaching) certificate and was awarded the 2020 RWCMD Royal Welch Fusiliers Award and the Florence Mary Proctor Scholarship. Mared is honoured to have been appointed Harpist to His Majesty The King in the Summer of 2024, with her first official engagement happening a few weeks later celebrating 25 years of Y Senedd in Cardiff.

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A regular recitalist on both the national and international stage, Mared has won numerous awards for her playing including: 

2022 – Winner National Eisteddfod of Wales Instrumental Blue Riband winner 19 years and over

2022 – Winner of the Skaila Kanga Harp Prize (RAM)

2022 – 6th Place HarpMasters Prize Winner USA International Harp Competition, Bloomington, Indiana, USA

2021 – Winner 2020 Sir Ian Stoutzker Prize for the most outstanding musician, RWCMD

2020 – Finalist RWCMD Concerto Competition

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Other awards include: Winner 2019 RWCMD McGrenery Prize for Chamber Music; 2019 RWCMD Mansel Thomas Prize; 2019 placed second in the CAMAC Harp Competition at the North London Festival of Music. 
 

As a result of winning the 2020 Sir Ian Stoutzker Prize for the most outstanding musician at RWCMD, along with a £10,000 prize, Mared was honoured to accept an invitation in May 2022 to perform Highgrove Suite with the English Chamber Orchestra under the baton of composer Patrick Hawes as part of the Music in Country Churches series of concerts. She was shortly after invited by Patrick Hawes to perform Highgrove Suite alongside himself and the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra to a sell-out audience at Norwich Cathedral.

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In 2022 she was appointed as one of four Open Academy Fellows by the Royal Academy of Music, the Academy’s community and participation department, facilitating workshops and projects in education, from nursery classes to high schools, in hospitals and care homes. In 2023 following her fellowship, Mared was invited to become a musician for Wigmore Hall’s Music for Life, their community and participation programme, appointed as a Live Music Now Musician and freelanced with numerous organizations on their community projects; Academy of St Martin in the Fields, City of London Sinfonia and Royal Academy of Music to name a few.

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She is an avid exponent of contemporary music, having collaborated with numerous composers during her conservatoire years – most notably recording Hollie Harding’s work Summertide as part of the RAM 200 Pieces project. 

 

She has performed on various stages including the Senedd in Cardiff, Royal Festival Hall, Salisbury Cathedral and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and was proud to present a lunchtime concert at the Harp on Wight International Festival, October 2019 and to perform at the North London Festival Centenary Concert of Festival Winners in November 2019. 

 

She is in great demand as an ensemble player and was proud to present a concert of music from the British Isles at the World Harp Congress 2023 with her harp, flute and viola trio. She has also performed with the London Concert Orchestra, Fantasia Orchestra, Meridian Sinfonia, Chelsea Opera Group Orchestra, and has also accompanied choirs including Vasari Singers. ​

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Mared has performed worldwide including: Italy, Thailand, Belgium, Hungary, Paris and has played in masterclasses for: Anneleen Lanaerts, Sacha Boldachev, Catrin Finch, Isabelle Perrin, Marisa Robles, Edward Witsenburg, Elinor Bennett, Deborah Henson-Conant and David Watkins.