Pipe Idol is a flagship event of the Piping Live! festival and has been very popular with the Street Cafe audience for many years. The photos below show it started life as a busking event on the streets of Glasgow for young pipers in 2004, but it has become one of the premier platforms for young pipers to showcase their talents.
Applications for this year’s competition close a week tomorrow, Friday June 2 at 5pm UK time. All applicants will be notified the following week.
With four heats through the week of the festival from Monday 14 – Thursday, August 17, and a final later on Thursday, this is a great opportunity for young solo players from around the world, who will be in Glasgow this summer and are aged U21 on August 11, to take part.
Those selected to take part will be asked to play a hornpipe and jig, a March, Strathspey and Reel and a medley of tunes between 5 – 7 minutes long on stage at The Street Café at McPhater Street. The event is judged by secret judges who are hidden in the Street Cafe crowd. The Piping Live! team are also delighted to announce that the event will once again be sponsored by Fred Morrison Pipes, with the overall winner receiving a set of Fred Morrison Reelpipes.
To apply, please record a video of yourself playing a Hornpipe and Jig and an MSR and send it to marketing@thepipingcentre.co.uk along with your name, age, date of birth and which country you are from.
The easiest way to submit a video is to add it as an unlisted youtube video email the link as part of your submission, or they can be sent with dropbox or wetransfer. This video, which was created for the NPC junior contest, shows you how to add an unlisted video to youtube. https://vimeo.com/489762236
Previous winners of Pipe Idol are:
2022 – Luke Kennedy
2019 – Brodie Watson-Massey
2018 – Hamish Reade
2017 – Robbie MacIsaac
2016 – Callum Craib
2015 – Scott Barrie
2014 – Calum Brown
2013 – Angus J. MacColl
2012 – Connor Sinclair
2011 – Sarah Muir
2010 – Alex Gandy
2009 – James MacKenzie
2008 – Cameron Drummond
2007 – Cameron Scott
2006 – Keith Bowes
