Livingstone chooses Grey tunes for solo recital / contest

The annual Livingstone Invitational Solo Invitational Piping Competition will tweak things again for the 2013 rendition of the event by requiring the six contestants to include at least one composition by Dundas, Ontario, resident Michael Grey in his or her 20-minute recital. Grey will also judge the contest along with fellow Ontarians John Cairns and John MacKenzie.

As with the format introduced in 2012, tuning at the piper’s discretion will be part of the 20-minute-maximum allotted to each, as well as any speaking to the audience that the player wishes to do.

Performers at this year’s Livingstone Invitational:

• Ed Bush, Cardinal, Ontario
• Ann Gray, Calgary
• Ben McClamrock, Baltimore
• Derek Midgley, Mill Town, New Jersey
• Jamie Troy, Victoria, British Columbia
• Glenn Walpole, Kincardine, Ontario

The Saturday, October 19th, event returns to its familiar venue at the Officers’ Mess at Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders of Canada’s James Street Armoury in Hamilton, Ontario, for a 7 pm start, discontinuing last year’s experiment with a catered event at a highbrow Hamilton club.

Each competitor receives an “appearance fee” for their work, and there is no additional money for the winner.

The event is organized by the Niagara-Hamilton Branch of the Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario, and, according to the organizers “invitations to this event are limited to solo pipers graded Professional or Open, by their home association, and are based on the solo success rate of the competitor. This yearés event showcases players with a full range of experience in the professional grade, with some players having only competed at this level for a couple of years, while others have been in the open grade for over 20 years.”

Tickets are $20 and the organizers encourage attendees to wear Highland dress.

Colin Clansey was the winner of the 2012 Livingstone Invitational.