The world’s biggest piping festival is to return to Glasgow for its 20th edition this summer.
Piping Live! attracts over 30,000 attendees to the city, with organisers hoping to bring in even more visitors this year as the festival celebrates two decades as a cornerstone on the Scottish cultural calendar.
The majority of events for the nine-day festival, which will showcase a world-renowned programme of events, will be held in and around The National Piping Centre.
A special closing concert will round off the 20th edition, with performances by some festival favourites, including the hugely talented multi-instrumentalists Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton. The duo will perform a double header show with Uilleann piper Jarlath Henderson, who performed at the first Piping Live! festival, and guitarist Innes Watson.
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The Pipe Major Alasdair Gillies Memorial Recital Challenge, Piping Live!’s flagship evening of solo piping, will also be showcased at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall’s Strathclyde Suite this year. The competition will pit five top solo pipers against each other as they take to the stage to perform a 25-minute medley of their favourite tunes. Annually a sell-out success, performances this year will come from Angus MacColl, Stuart Liddell, Sarah Muir, Callum Beaumont and the 2022 champion Matt MacIsaac.
The International Quartet Competition will feature six of the top Grade I pipe band quartets in the world; Field Marshal Montgomery (Northern Ireland), Inveraray and District (Scotland), Manawatu Scottish (New Zealand), 78thFraser Highlanders (Canada), Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia (Scotland) and People’s Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia (Scotland).
Piping Live!’s avant Garde night of music, entitled Ceol Nua, will also return to the festival when multi-instrumentalist Fraser Fifield and Estonian piper Caatlin Magi perform.
Finlay MacDonald, Artistic Director for Piping Live!, said: “We are delighted to be launching the 20th edition of Piping Live! It's incredible to think back on how much the festival has grown in the last 20 years. I'm extremely proud to be involved in the direction of what is now a major cultural and musical event for Scotland, and the global piping and traditional music scene.
“Piping is more popular than ever, there are more people from diverse backgrounds playing, the music is both steeped in tradition as well as forward-looking and innovative. This rise in popularity is in no small part down to the continued support from our audiences and the dedication of the teams behind Piping Live! and the World Pipe Band Championships. There's a real energy in the piping and drumming scene in anticipation of Piping Live! this year.Glasgow is certainly going to be alive with music, friendship and camaraderie.
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“The team here at the National Piping Centre have been working tirelessly to deliver the festival this year, despite some substantial funding cuts across the cultural events industry, so we really need public support now more than ever – please purchase tickets, please donate what you can and please encourage others to come out and enjoy the world-class performances we will be showcasing this August. Never has your support been more vital in ensuring this iconic festival, and the scene it supports, continues to thrive.”
A plethora of free day time events, which will primarily take place at the festival’s iconic Street Café on McPhater Street, will include the ‘Emerging Talent’ stage where daily shows will be performed by up-and-coming trad music groups, alongside performances by international artists from Brittany, Estonia and Ireland.
The National Piping Centre’s auditorium will also host the Pipe Idol Final, when four solo players aged 21 and under will compete after winning their heat earlier in the week. The much-coveted prize is a set of Reelpipes from Fred Morrison Pipes.
Pipe bands from across the globe will also perform on Buchanan Street from 12 noon each day of the festival, including artists from Canada, USA, Australia, Belgium and of course Scotland.
Piping Live! runs from Saturday, August 12, to Sunday, August 20. General tickets go on sale on Friday at 10am here.
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