The Director of The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland, Steven Blake, is interviewed by Dr Andrew Bova in the first Piping Show of 2023. Steven is also a member of trad band Rura, and brings a wealth of piping and performance experience from his time travelling and gigging with the band over the last 13 years.
At the moment Steven and the senior members of The National Youth Pipe Band are deep in rehearsals for Celtic Connections and the Names and Places Annual Pipe Band Concert. But there are lots and strands to the NYPBS and Steven discusses the challenges and focus for 2023 such as running the three bands for Junior, Development and Senior players, their Outreach programme and their Emerging Composers project — as well as announcing the Sunday, April 2 date for their end of year NYPBS concert in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh.