By Margaret Dunn.
The 2020 World Solo Amateur Piping Competition, held online as part of this year’s Piping Live! festival, saw a record 125 entries from amateur pipers around the world. The results are below.
The CLASP stewards connected live over 120 times last Saturday (August 8) with pipers from the UK, Ireland, Australia, Singapore, Hawaii, America, Canada, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Netherlands and Hungary.
The competition is organised by the National Piping Centre’s Competition League for Amateur Solo Pipers (CLASP), and is widely recognised as the premier competition for adult amateur solo pipers.
The judges – Willie McCallum, Wilson Brown, Connor Sinclair, Sarah Muir, Dr Andrew Bova and Andrew Wallace – spent the weekend listening to the audio recordings submitted. Unlike other online competitions, where competitors can record a multitude of performances then send in the one they consider to be their best, these are live audio recordings.
CLASP itself goes from strength to strength with a 20% increase in membership from last year. Anyone wishing to join should go online to https://theclasp.co.uk. We will run an online workshop over the weekend of October 2-3 and we’ll have our next competition in late October/early November. This one will be run in a similar way to our last few competitions.
RESULTS
Overall winners:
Grade 1 – Stuart Robinson;
Grade 2 – Liza McFarquhar;
Grade 3 – Robert Cunningham.
Ceòl Mòr
Grade 1 – 1. Stuart Robinson (Massacre of Glencoe); 2. Robert Wilson (Massacre of Glencoe); 3. Justin Howland (MacDougall’s Gathering); 4. Evan Wraga (Catherine’s Lament); 5. Stephen Ross (Lament for Mary MacLeod); 6. Gordon Hislop (MacKay’s Banner).
Judge: Willie McCallum.
Grade 2 – 1. James Carnegie (The Little Spree); 2. Billy Wardrope (Too Long in this Condition); 3. Dagmar Pesta (Sir James MacDonald of the Isles’ Lament); 4. Ted Hales ( (Struan Robertson’s Salute); 5. Hector Thomson (The Company’s Lament); 6. Bernhard Cohen (MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart).
Judge: Connor Sinclair.
Grade 3 – 1. Anthony Kelly (MacFarlane’s Gathering); 2. Robert Cunningham (Glengarry’s Lament); 3. Matteo Fornasari (Kinlochmoidart’s Lament); 4. Colin MacKenzie (Glengarry’s Lament); 5. Roddy Garden (Struan Robertson’s Salute); 6. Alasdair Beaton (Lament for Donald of Laggan).
Judge: Connor Sinclair.
Grade 3, Ceòl Mòr (Ground) – 1. Sven Vollberg; 2. Matteo Fornasari; 3. Roddy Garden; 4. Robert Thomson; 5. Joe Moore; 6. Danielle Warren.
Grade 1 Light Music:
MSR – 1. Stuart Robinson; 2. Colin Innes; 3. Justin Howland; 4. Brady Webb; 5. Gordon Hislop; 6. Scott Long.
Hornpipe & Jig – 1. Stuart Robinson; 2. Justin Howland; 3. Colin Innes; 4. Scott Long; 5. Brady Webb; 6. Dane Grant.
Judge: Sarah Muir.
Grade 2 Light Music:
2/4 March – 1. Christian Beutler; 2. Ben Hall; 3. Liza McFarquhar; 4. Edmund Boland; 5. Andrea Jones; 6. James Carnegie.
Judge: Wilson Brown.
Strathspey and Reel – 1. Ben Hall; 2. Liza McFarquhar; 3. Douglas Maxwell; 4. Bill Copland; 5. Andrea Jones; 6. Balint Kiss.
Judge: Wilson Brown.
Jig – 1. Liza MacFarquhar; 2. Douglas Hamilton; 3. Cameron O’Neill; 4. Esther Scheren; 5. Andrea Jones; 6. Anne Gallo.
Judge: Andrew Wallace.
Grade 3 Light Music:
2/4 March – 1. Alasdair Beaton; 2. Rebecca Morris; 3. Roddy Garden; 4. Anthony Kelly; 5. Robert Cunningham; 6. Martin Lee.
Judge: Dr Andrew Bova.
Strathspey & Reel – 1. Kim Greeley; 2. Robert Cunningham; 3. Danielle Warren; 4. Sven Vollberg; 5. Alasdair Beaton; 6. Rebecca Morris.
Judge: Dr Andrew Bova.
Jig – 1. Alasdair Beaton; 2. Danielle Warren; 3. Robert Cunningham; 4. Sven Vollberg; 5. Jamie Acheson; 6. Kim Greeley.
Judge: Andrew Wallace.
