Cameron Bonar and Sebastien Arguelles US Junior Solo Champions (videos)

The Internet – November 13-14, 2021 – Cameron Bonar of Surrey, British Columbia, and Sebastien Arguelles of Houston were the overall winners of the solo piping and pipe band snare drumming, respectively, at the US Junior Solo Piping & Drumming Championships, part of the fifteenth annual Balmoral Classic, held online and organized by the Balmoral School of Piping & Drumming.

Bonar was first in both the Piobaireachd and the MSR events and received a plethora of prizes by sponsors, including a set of Duncan MacRae pipes from McCallum Bagpipes, the Ralph and Patricia Murray award for a full scholarship at the 2022 Balmoral Summer session, a Piper’s Choice set of smallpipes donated by Scott’s Highland Services, and the Balmoral Award and five tutorial bundles from Murray Henderson’s Piobaireachd Studio.

Arguelles received a British Drum Co. Axial snare drum donated by Henderson Imports, a one-week scholarship to the 2022 Balmoral summer session.

Competitors submitted one video for each of two events in their discipline.

Piping
Piobaireachd (The Balmoral Award)
1st Cameron Bonar, “Lament for Donald of Laggan”
2nd Sebastian Benedetto, Cape Neddick, Maine, “The MacGregors’ Salute”
3rd Katherine Miller, Safety Harbor, Florida, “Mackay’s Short Tune”
4th Kevin Darmadi, Houston, “The Groat”
5th Roy Huang, Stouffville, Ontario, “Glengarry’s March”
Judges: Murray Henderson, Michael Rogers, Brett Tidswell

MSR (E.W. Littlefield, Jr. Award)
1st Cameron Bonar, “The Braes of Brecklet,” “Dora MacLeod,” “The Grey Bob”
2nd Elizabeth Knox, Woodbine, Maryland, “Major Manson at Clachantrushal,” “Tulloch Castle,” “Alick C. MacGregor”
3rd Alexandra Knox, Woodbine, Maryland, “The Marchioness of Tullibardine,” “John Roy Stewart,” “Mrs. MacPherson of Inveran”
4th Kevin Darmadi, Houston, “John MacColl’s March to Kilbowie Cottage,” “John Roy Stewart,” “Thompson’s Dirk”
5th Harrison Little, Fergus, Ontario, “Miss Elspeth Campbell,” “Shepherd’s Crook,” “John Morrison, Assynt House”
Judges: Murray Henderson, Michael Rogers, Brett Tidswell

Also competing: Quinten Bachman, St. Louis; Gillian Blaney, Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia; Jean-Sebastien Gamache, Orleans, Ontario; Roy Huang, Stouffville, Ontario; Calum MacNeil, Dearborn, Michigan; Thomas McCollum, Deerton, Michigan; Alexandra Miller, Safety Harbor, Florida; and Canaan Strobel, Houston.

Snare Drumming
MSR (St. Andrew’s Society of Pittsburgh Award)
1st Sebastian Arguelles, “Lord Alexander Kennedy,” “Bogan Lochan,” “Pretty Marion”
2nd Andrew McNamara, Laurel, Maryland, “The Royal Scottish Pipers’ Society,” “The Cameronian Rant,” “Pretty Marion”
3rd Tommi McAndrew, Laurencekirk, Scotland, “The Conundrum,” “Struan Robertson,” “Dolina MacKay”
4th Alec Flansburg, Rotterdam, New York, “Angus MacKinnon of Eigg,” “Cabar Feidh,” “John Morrison, Assynt House”
5th Caleb Ruddock, Dunedin, Florida, “P-M Willie Gray’s Farewell to the Glasgow Police,” “Dorrator Bridge,” “Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree”
Judges: Stephen Creighton, Eric MacNeill, Reid Maxwell

Hornpipe & Jig (Pittsburgh Firefighters Memorial Pipe Band Award)
1st Sebastian Arguelles, “Lucy Cassidy,” “Bronni’s Blue Brozzi”
2nd Tommi McAndrew, “Crossing the Minch,” “Donald Cameron’s Powder Horn”
3rd Andrew McNamara, Laurel, Maryland, “Touching Cloth,” “Troy’s Wedding”
4th Alec Flansburg, “Lucy Cassidy,” “The Kitchen Maid”
5th Caleb Ruddock, “The Drunken Landlady,” “Donald McKillop”
Judges: Stephen Creighton, Eric MacNeill, Reid Maxwell

Mae Thompson of Rockville, Maryland, also competed.

After the Saturday contests, there was a Live via Zoom awards ceremony at Calvary United Methodist Church, attended by the competitors, their families, our judges and staff, and Balmoral Classic supporters, and a concert with Scottish fiddle virtuoso Alasdair Fraser, and renowned cellist, Natalie Haas. At the start of the second concert set the overall winners’ videos were projected on a big screen.

The weekend finished with a piobaireachd workshop with Murray Henderson and a drumming workshop with Stephen Creighton both free for contestants