Huw Boucher

Born in Penarth, South Wales, Huw began the harp at the age of ten, later taking up the flute alongside his studies in piano and harp. He trained in the Junior Department of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, where he studied with Kathryn Rees. He won the National Eisteddfod from 2016 to 2019, receiving the coveted Blue Ribbon in 2017, and was twice a finalist in the Gregynog National Young Musician competition. In 2018 he joined the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, performing with them at the BBC Proms in the Royal Albert Hall, and in 2020 he was the only harpist to reach the Strings Final of BBC Young Musician, broadcast nationally. He was awarded a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music in 2021, supported by an ABRSM award, and on graduating from his undergraduate studies there received both the President’s Prize for the Most Outstanding Student and the Exam Board Prize for the highest final recital mark.

He is currently pursuing postgraduate study at the Royal Academy of Music on a full scholarship, and is a 2025 Boise scholar and an Ian Fleming Instrumentalist Award holder. Huw studies with Professor Emerita Skaila Kanga, Suzanne Willison-Kawalec and Catrin Finch. During his time at the Academy he has performed in masterclasses with many of the world’s leading harpists, including Anne-Sophie Bertrand, Anneleen Lenaerts, Gwyneth Wentink and Sylvain Blassel. He has performed with the Royal Academy of Music Symphony Orchestra and the Manson Ensemble, and appeared alongside the Nash Ensemble at Wigmore Hall. In 2023, Anne-Sophie Bertrand invited Huw to perform with the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra.

Huw has enjoyed considerable success in national and international competitions, becoming only the second person ever to reach the final of the USA International Harp Competition twice. At the 12th competition he was awarded the Silver Medal and Concerto Prize, and in 2025 he returned to win the Bronze Medal and Concerto Prize for his performance of Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco’s Concertino, making him the first competitor in the history of the competition to win the Concerto Prize twice. Further distinctions include winning the UK Harp Competition, the Nansi Richards Scholarship, the Bronze Medal at the Wales International Harp Competition, the Guy Magrath Prize, the Skaila Kanga Harp Prize, the John Fussell Award in 2026, and the Gold Medal in the Duo Division of the Hong Kong International Harp Competition 2025 with The Harp Collective Duo, which he co-founded and which went on to make its Hong Kong recital debut.

He has performed five concerts at the World Harp Congress in Cardiff, at the Isle of Wight and Manchester harp festivals, and in solo recital at Salvi’s London showroom. In 2026 he appears as a featured artist at the Toronto International Harp Festival, alongside Jana Boušková, Sarah Bullen, Catherine Michel, Kathleen Bride and Shamim Minoo. Huw is based in London and performs as a soloist, concerto soloist, chamber musician and orchestral player.