Education

  • DMA , Music/ Harp Performance, University of Arizona. Project: THE IMPORTANCE OF HARPIST JOHN THOMAS AS A WELSH NATIONALISTIC COMPOSER AND HIS IMPACT ON THE DEVELOPMENT OF VIRTUOSIC HARP REPERTOIRE
  • MA, Musicology, University of Utah. Project: WELSH HARPIST JOHN PARRRY AND HIS 1760 COLLECTION OF WELSH, ENGLISH, AND SCOTTISH AIRS.
  • BA, Music, University of Utah
  • BS, Biology/ Human Physiology, University of Utah

Biography

 

Cathryn Clayton obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts in Harp Performance

from the University of Arizona. She holds a Masterʼs degree in Musicology

and Bachelorʼs degrees in Music and Biology from the University of Utah.

She also obtained her Registered Respiratory Therapy degree from Weber

State University. During her years of graduate study, Dr. Clayton

researched Welsh harp music and obtained a Doctoral Minor in

Ethnomusicology. She currently teaches Harp Performance, Harp Pedagogy and Literature, World Music, Survey of Jazz, Music Theory and Music History at the University of Utah.

 

Dr. Clayton presented a paper on her research and Masterʼs thesis, The

Composer John Parry and His “Collection of Welsh English, & Scottish

Airs” (1761), at the Society for Ethnomusicology Regional Conference in

March 2006. Her research on Welsh harpists continued with her doctoral

dissertation, The Importance of Harpist John Thomas as a Welsh

Nationalistic Composer and his Impact on the Development of Virtuosic

Harp Repertoire.

 

Dr. Clayton has studied with harpists throughout the United States,

including Dr. Carrol McLaughlin (The University of Arizona), Alice Chalifoux

(The Salzedo School), and Eileen Malone (Eastman School of Music). She

co-founded the Arizona Harp Experience Youth Summer Camp with Dr.

Carrol McLaughlin, which has been going strong since 2003. She has

taught private students for over fifteen years. Her students have competed

in regional and national competitions and attended prominent schools

through the U.S. including the Manhattan School of Music and the

University of Arizona.

 

Dr. Clayton has toured throughout Europe, performing with HarpFusion, the

largest touring harp ensemble in the United States. She has arranged and

recorded several works for harp ensemble, some of which can be heard on

HarpFusion recordings. Dr. Clayton is currently the director of Crimson Harps, the University of Utah Harp Ensemble. The ensemble recently completed a very successful tours of Southern California in 2010 and Central Utah in 2013, and is touring San Diego, California in 2015. 

 

 

Dr. Clayton has also recorded solo works on the CD Fragile

Tears (2005). She has performed extensively for the Utah Governorʼs

Mansion, the United States Olympic Committee, and currently performs

throughout Utah, Idaho, Arizona, and California.