Archive

The thirteenth annual Redding Bagpipe Competition attracted a solid entry from across North America, and ultimately Malachi Johannsen of Modesto, California, was the Grade 1 aggregate winner, gaining an invitation to compete at the Sandy Jones Memorial Amateur Championship on November 9th at the Sun Belt Invitational in Florida.

Some 28 prospective piping, drumming and ensemble judges attended an extensive online training course run by a new-look Adjudicators Panel Management Board (APMB) under recently-appointed Convener Robert Mathieson. The board’s Adjudicators Development Group is managing the training course, which had its first session on March 1st. The piping and drumming […]

The Pipers & Pipe Band Society of Ontario has confirmed that its first-ever Drumming Summit will occur on March 30th as part of the Toronto Indoor Games. Joining the panel will be Jamie Alfred, Kahlil Cappuccino, Drew Duthart and Dave Fenton, each moderating discussions on various topics related to pipe […]

“Highland games are a partnership between the band association, bands and local organizers. Each is important to the end result, and none is more important than the others.” Dave Bruning, Pipes and Drums Chair for the Wisconsin Highland Games, discusses the challenges many of today’s competition organizers face.

The Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP) held its latest in-person, live-in-the-flesh-and-wool competition at the National Piping Centre’s McPhater Street premises. It was John Frater who won the overall trophy in the Grade 1 class, while John Nevans and Kathryn McEwan took the aggregate trophies in Grade 2 and Grade 3, respectively.

Mike Cusack is beyond measure the greatest American competitive Highland piper in history. The winner of both Highland Society of London Gold Medals (Oban 1984, Inverness 1987), the Northern Meeting Clasp (1997) and Jigs (1981), the Senior Piobaireachd at the Argyllshire Gathering (1989, ’96, ’97, 2003), the Bratach Gorm (1997), the Glenfiddich MSR (1987) and […]

Reigning World Champions Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia will take the stage for the third time in the band’s 52-year history at the annual Pre-World’s Concert in Glasgow on August 14th. The Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band will promote the “Cabar Fèidh” event, as they have every time the […]

April 14th is the date of the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland’s annual “End of Year’s Concert,” at the historic Perth Concert Hall in Perth, Scotland. “It’s a critical fundraising event for . . . a truly unique program,” said NYPBS Director Steven Blake. “With the arts under so […]

If it’s springtime in Glasgow, it can only mean one thing: the annual Uist & Barra Invitational Solo Piping Competition, the unofficial traditional kickoff to a new year of significant professional events. The 10 to compete at the March 9th contest at the National Piping Centre’s Otago Street premises and […]

We conclude our series of articles and videos from the great piobaireachd master Andrew Wright’s two-week visit to the University of California, Riverside, in May 2016 with the lecture he delivered to students and a performance of the ground and variations of “The Desperate Battle.”

In Part 1 of our discussion with Ian Whitelaw, the distinguished piper and teacher talked about his relationship with the great piobaireachd master Andrew Wright, and what led up to the 80-year-old Wright’s 14-day visit to the University of California, Riverside in May 2016. In Part 2, Whitelaw looks back […]

With a first in the MSR and a second in the Medley, Connor Sinclair of Crieff, Scotland, was the overall champion of the 2024 Ardmore Cup Invitational Solo Piping Competition at St. Declan’s Village Hall in Ardmore, Waterford, Ireland. Sinclair gained the big prize for the second straight year.

In May 2016, 80-year-old Andrew Wright travelled from his home in Dunblane, Scotland, to Riverside, California, a distance of more than 5,100 miles that took more than 24 hours to complete. The renowned master of piobaireachd, at the invitation of the school, spent two weeks teaching, discussing, and performing ceol […]

Gillian Blaney of Lower Sackville, Nova Scotia, was the big winner, taking all four events. Blaney gained an invitation to compete in the CLASP Champion of Champions competition on April 27th. Since she had already qualified because of winning the top amateur prize at last year’s Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario, runner-up Charles-David Mitchell of Montreal gets an invitation.

March 1st will be the next attempt at a recital in the series put on by the Lewis & Harris Piping Society, with James Duncan MacKenzie and Neil Smith taking the stage in Stornoway after the January show by Highland Society of London Gold Medallist Niall Stewart had to be […]

John Ban was described as the last of the old school. He was the complete piper: he could kill the sheep, make the bag, turn the pipes, cut the reeds, compose the tune and play it.