The Northern Meeting Piping Competition, held at Eden Court in Inverness and renowned as one of the most prestigious piping competition in the world, will be live-streamed for the first time ever on Thursday, September 1 this year.
Several of the events from world’s greatest non-invitational indoor solo piping competition will be available to watch for just £15 from the comfort of your own home, including the Gold Medal and The Former Winners March, Strathspey and Reel with more events over the two days planned to be added in future years.
The Gold Medal will start at 8.30am (GMT) on Thursday, September 1, followed by The Former Winners March, Strathspey and Reel at around 5pm (GMT) on the same platform.
Sir Patrick Grant, from The Northern Meeting Piping Competition, said: “We’re delighted to unveil this new ticketed live stream option for this year. The piping community is international, and we hope by making this prestigious competition more accessible to everyone more people will be able to enjoy it both at home here in Scotland and abroad. Piping is at the heart of Scotland’s identity and the Northern Meeting plays a key part in promoting this rich musical heritage among Scots, and friends of Scotland, across the world – we believe this will only be improved with the introduction of this live streaming element this year.”
The Gold Medal for piobaireachd and the Gold Clasp for former winners are the most sought-after achievements for any piper. The honour attached to such success attracts pipers from across the British Isles, USA, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Northern Ireland and Europe.
Entry to the competition is restricted to those of the highest calibre and the bar is set high with only around 100 competitors selected to take part in the various events. These include the classic Piobaireachd, March, Strathspey and Reel and Hornpipes and Jigs.
The competition also caters for younger players with around 30 to 40 young competitors each year. This year the Northern Meeting Competition will welcome young players from all over Scotland, as well as some from Canada and New Zealand. This will take be available to watch in-person on Friday, September 2, and won’t be part of the live-streaming option.
Live stream tickets are priced at just £15 and once purchased they will provide access live on the day and for the month of September. They are on sale now at https://piping.northern-meeting.org/competition-live-stream/.
In-person tickets to the two-day event will be available to purchase at Eden Court on the competition days.
Continuing the founding principles of the Northern Meeting Piping Competition
One of the prime concerns of the Northern Meeting is to support and encourage the traditional music of the Highlands.
The Northern Meeting (NM) Society was formed in 1788 in Inverness ‘to provide pleasure and entertainment’ in the seven Northern Counties in the aftermath of Culloden. The first Highland Ball was held in the former Town House in Inverness in 1788.
The NM Society held it first Highland Games in 1837 on the Longman. Some four years later, in 1841 an ‘exhibition of Pipers and Dancers’ was included and this was the start of the NM Piping Competitions.
The Northern Meeting continues to provide its members with ‘the pleasure and innocent amusement’ which its founders prescribed over 200 years ago. At the same time, by running and funding the competition, the Northern Meeting makes a unique contribution to the Highlands, very much in tune with its original purpose of bringing concord and enjoyment to the northern Highlands of Scotland. Independent of the NM Society, the Northern Meeting Piping Trust is responsible for the NM Piping Competition which is run by the NM Piping Committee whose members include distinguished pipers, members of the Inverness Committee of the Highland Council and members of the Northern Meeting Society.
