FORMER Royal harpist Claire Jones has been back in her native Pembrokeshire to perform in a unique venue alongside some of the UK’s finest young musicians.

Ensemble 47, directed by Claire and her husband, composer and percussionist Chris Marshall, performed three shows at the Cloud Theatre in the Serendome on the Bluestone Resort last weekend.

The concerts featured well-known classics and favourites from the movies including music from the Lion King and Mission Impossible.

Claire, who went to school at Ysgol y Preseli, Crymych, forged a career as an international harpist and performed over 180 times for Royalty, including at the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.

Ensemble47 is composed of ten students from the world’s top music conservatoires, universities, schools, national youth orchestras and music theatres of Great Britain.

Their achievements to date include tours of the USA, performances for the Royal Family and Urdd Eisteddfod prizes.

Musical directors Chris and Claire also made special appearances as performers in the concert.

Chris has produced many bespoke compositions for the Bluestone Resort over the past two years, including the Winter Lights and Christmasland full scores.

On this occasion, he produced eight special arrangements and one original composition called Andalucia for him, Claire and Ensemble47 and also created a show which required the students to work with full audio production and backing track.

The ensemble combined daily rehearsals for the concert with a well-deserved week's holiday at Bluestone with their families.

Following the pandemic, this was their first set of performances in two years.

Claire said: “The last year and a half has been challenging for everyone, especially those who are arts professionals.

"Chris and I have developed our ensemble over many years. They have toured the east coast of America and performed at so many prestigious venues in the UK.

"Following the pandemic, we really wanted to energise, inspire and motivate the ensemble by planning an unique course which offered the special experience of working together with the Bluestone production team.

"To be able to deliver this level of production in one of Wales’ finest theatre settings was a real joy and the Bluestone team made it such an enjoyable and wonderful experience.

"My roots are firmly placed in Pembrokeshire - therefore after so many months away from the stage, there was no doubt in my mind Bluestone was the perfect place to host our comeback in 2021".

Yvonne Buckingham, head of marketing at Bluestone added: “We were so thrilled to welcome Claire, Chris and their talented group to the resort.

"We’re so pleased they had a wonderful stay and grateful to them for performing to our guests.”

James McNamara, head of leisure at the resort, added: “The concerts were magical and kicked off our Summer Festival in such a beautiful way.”