Archive
After four gruelling qualifying heats and an extra-arduous Final of four in the National Piping Centre’s Auditorium, Andrew Zhao of Houston was named Pipe Idol 2026, receiving a set of Fred Morrison Reelpipes.
The fourth and final heat of Piping Live!’s 2026 Pipe Idol competition was won by Andrew Zhao of Houston, chosen by an unidentified group of three judges to go through to the four-piper Grand Final later in the day.
Our intrepid man with the camera, Alister Sinclair, is once again prowling Piping Live! 2026, Nikon at the ready, Nikkor lenses in abundance, looking for the moments that others might miss. Throughout the week, we’ll bring you a daily potpourri of his best shots from around the festival, documenting the […]
Iain MacDonald (Regina) reports from the epicentre of piping (and drumming) . . .
The third and final CLASP (Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers) at the 2026 Piping Live! Festival was for Grade 1, and Olivia Corcoran of Gaithersburg, Maryland, won the overall trophy, with two light music first prizes and a third in the Piobaireachd.
We’re asking one important question each day of Piping Live! 2026. Here are responses from Tuesday, August 12th, asking whether the use of artificial intelligence in competition should be regulated by pipe band associations. If you’re around Piping Live! and would like to express your (very) brief thoughts on our […]
The third heat of Piping Live!’s 2026 Pipe Idol competition was won by Scotland’s Kai Hay, chosen by an unidentified group of three judges to go through to the four-piper Grand Final on Thursday, August 13th.
We’re pleased to provide a potpourri of images each day from the world’s greatest piping and drumming event, this side of . . . well . . . the Worlds.
Iain MacDonald (Regina) reports from the epicentre of piping (and drumming) . . .
“If your goal is to understand what’s happening and to assess how good it is, you will never achieve it.”
Christopher Couperthwaite of Germany was the overall winner of the CLASP Grade 2 World Solo Amateur Piping Competition at Piping Live! 2026, held at the National Piping Centre’s Otago Street branch.
After two knee-knocking, stomach-churning, why-did-I-ever-volunteer-for-this? performances, Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia emerged winners of the 2026 International Quartet Competition at a packed Strathclyde Suite in the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall.
We’re asking one important question each day of Piping Live! 2026. Here are responses from Tuesday, August 11th, on whether it’s time for the Grade 1 and Grade 2 MSR events to be replaced with something else (including retaining the MSR in a different way).
The second heat of Piping Live!’s 2026 Pipe Idol competition was won by 16-year-old Lachlan Rennie, chosen by an unidentified group of three judges to go through to the four-piper Grand Final on Thursday, August 13th.
Iain MacDonald (Regina) reports from the epicentre of piping (and drumming) . . .
pipes|drums’ intrepid photographer, Alister Sinclair, is once again armed with his Nikon and a multitude of Nikkor lenses and his canny eye for a great shot, prowling the scene at Piping Live! 2026. We’re pleased to provide a potpourri of images each day from the world’s greatest piping and drumming […]