Glenfiddich 10 confirmed for Oct. 31 at Blair Castle

The 10 contestants for the 2026 Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championships on October 31st at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland, are officially confirmed:

• Chris Armstrong, Glasgow – 2026 Northern Meeting Silver Star Former Winners’ MSR
• Callum Beaumont, Guardbridge, Scotland – 2026 Northern Meeting Clasp
• Alan Bevan, Abbotsford, British Columbia – second prize, 2026 Northern Meeting Clasp
• Calum Brown, Peterculter, Scotland – 2026 Northern Meeting Highland Society of London Gold Medal
• Alasdair Henderson, Edinburgh –2026 Piping Live! Masters Champion
• Finlay Johnston, Milngavie, Scotland – 2025 Bratach Gorm and 2026 Argyllshire Gathering Former Winners’ MSR
• Stuart Liddell, Inveraray, Scotland – 2025 Glenfiddich champion and 2025 Scottish Piping Society of London Champion
• Sean McKeown, Bowmanville, Ontario – 2026 Argyllshire Gathering Highland Society of London Gold Medal
• Iain Speirs, Edinburgh – second prize, 2026 Argyllshire Gathering Senior Piobaireachd
• Greg Wilson, Tai Tapu, New Zealand – 2026 Argyllshire Gathering Senior Piobaireachd

As pipes|drums predicted when final results from the Northern Meeting were announced, because Finlay Johnston and Stuart Liddell won two qualifying events each, Alan Bevan and Iain Speirs received invitations for their second prizes in the Northern Meeting Clasp and Argyllshire Gathering Senior Piobaireachd, respectively, and got the call.

As is often the case with the year’s Gold Medallists, Calum Brown and Sean McKeown will make their debut at the Glenfiddich, while the other eight pipers have previously competed at the world’s greatest solo piping competition. Four have won the championship, all more than once: Beaumont (2024, 2023), Johnston (2019, 2018), Liddell (2025, 2014, 2009), and Speirs (2013, 2012).

Greg Wilson returns to the Glenfiddich for the first time since 2008, when he won the Northern Meeting Clasp. He has played in the event seven times.

The event will be without four renowned pipers who have won the championship multiple times: Willie McCallum, Bearsden, Scotland (1990, 1993, 1994, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2022); Roddy MacLeod, Glasgow (1992, 1997, 2002, 2011, 2016); Angus D. MacColl Benderloch, Scotland (1995, 2006, 2010, 2015), and Jack Lee, Surrey, British Columbia (2003, 2017, 2021).

McCallum holds the record with nine Glenfiddich Championship victories.

The brainchild of the late Seumas MacNeill, the Glenfiddich Championship was first held in 1974 and has been staged every year since, originally underwritten and organized in part by William Grant & Sons Distillers (later the William Grant Foundation) and since 2023 by the National Piping Centre.

Organizers report that only about 20 in-person tickets remain, but an unlimited number are available for the paid livestream broadcast.