Carlisle, Cusack, Hudson on tap for Feb. 2026 Jimmy McIntosh Piob Workshop

If you can play at least one complete piece of ceol mor, you’re eligible to attend the fourth annual Jimmy McIntosh MBE Piobaireachd Workshop, February 20-22, 2026, in Pittsburgh.

The Pittsburgh Piping Society and Carnegie Mellon University are partnering again to host the event at Carnegie Mellon’s Cohen University Center.

Apples of McIntosh’s teaching eye, Andrew Carlisle, Mike Cusack and Nick Hudson will be teaching and performing over the three days.

The workshop weekend starts on Friday, Feb. 20th, at 7:30 pm at the Pitch on Butler hosted by the Pittsburgh Piping Society, with enrollees voluntarily playing for their peers, and concludes with a performance by multi-Clasp-winner Cusack.

On Saturday, Carlisle, Cusack, and Hudson will lead Masterclass and Classroom instruction at Carnegie Mellon University, concluding with 2025 Jimmy McIntosh MBE Scholarship recipient Peter Liu of Nashville performing two piobaireachds he has learned since June with guidance from Carlisle and Cusack.

The weekend concludes on Sunday morning with a three-hour morning workshop at Carnegie Mellon University.

The workshop costs US$150 and includes lunch on Saturday. Observer-only folks can also attend for less. The Pittsburgh Piping Society is managing registrations.

Originally from Dundee, Scotland, Jimmy Mcintosh was a long-time student of piobaireachd legends R.U. Brown and Robert Nicol. He immigrated to the United States in the early 1980s and, among many contributions, established Carnegie Mellon University’s bachelor’s degree program in piping. He taught piobaireachd to dozens of accomplished pipers. McIntosh died in 2021 at age 95.