Piping Live! is making plans for the 22nd Glasgow International Piping Festival from August, 11 -17, 2025. This year will see a reimagined outdoor ticketed space complete with a Centre Stage, The Bothy (an acoustic tent) and other exciting new additions, with ticket sales opening almost a month ago.
The organisers at the National Piping Centre have been building anticipation with a drip feed of highlights on their Facebook page here, as they refine and complete the programme of events for August.
New sponsors festival have been announced as Belhaven Brewery, who will add their iconic Horse Box bar to the brand new Festival Site, serving up cold pints all week long as part of new Piping Live! food and drink area.
The Friday Night Folk gig at St Luke’s will see the Ali M. Levack Big Band with support from Falasgair — both are bands who’ve come through the festival’s Emerging Talent programme.
Across the week the new Centre Stage will host daily headliners including Assynt, Beinn Lee, Malin Lewis and Cala, and the running order of Monday performances is below to give you a taste of what the week will hold.
Centre Stage Spotlight – Monday at Piping Live! 2025
- 12:00 – Emerging Talent (Act TBC) – Sponsored by Belhaven
- 13:15 – International Sessions: Morvan Massif Trio – Sponsored by Belhaven
- 14:14 – Pipe Idol Heat 1 – Sponsored by Fred Morrison Pipes
- 16:00 – Pipe Band Practice: Royal Airforce of Oman Pipe Band
- 17:15 – Assynt
There will also be performances from Brìghde Chaimbeul, Richard Parkes, Inveraray & District Pipe Band, and many more throughout the festival.
The well established festival favourite events of RG Hardie & Co Bagpipes Masters Solo Piping Competition, G1Reeds.com International Quartet Competition, P/M Alasdair Gillies Memorial Recital Competition, Fred Morrison Pipes Pipe Idol and the Belhaven Brewery Emerging Talent programme will also be a big part of the 2025 programme.
There is also a new commission at Piping Live! highlighting female piping talent, in partnership with Eden Court’s Under Canvas and supported by Maoin nan Ealan Gàidhlig. Curated by the brilliant Brìghde Chaimbeul, the performance will also feature Louise Mulcahy (uilleann pipes), Isla Callister (fiddle), Kirsty-Ann McInnes (Gaelic song), and Ingrid Henderson (multi-instrumentalist), this unique performance blends Gaelic, Gaeilge and Manx languages in collaboration.
Lunchtime Recitals at Piping Live! returns with three outstanding artists. Each recital takes place on the main festival site and offers an intimate performance from some of piping’s finest. On Tuesday, August 12 will see Ali Hutton in recital, followed by Sarah Muir on Wednesday and Nick Hudson on Thursday. Entry to a recital requires a Daily Site Ticket or Festival Week Pass.
Get your 2025 tickets now! www.pipinglive.co.uk
Over the last two decades Piping Live! has become one of Glasgow’s summer spectacles, showcasing our national instrument and pipes in all shapes and sizes around the city centre. Below we look back to the photo highlights and review from a decade ago — the summer of 2015.
Piping Live! takes the music to the people
The 13th Glasgow International Piping Festival • By Chris MacKenzie
Piping Live! is such a good idea and is such a success that you wonder why other genres of music haven’t copied its “bring the music to the people” approach. It doesn’t take a huge leap of imagination to envisage orchestras, jazz bands or even silver bands all plying their trade in George Square in the heart of Glasgow.
The model that has top quality bands, groups and individuals performing to the public without an admission fee has raised the awareness of not just the World Pipe Band Championships but of all things piping to such an extent that you would have to be camping on Mars not to have been influenced by it. That the other genres haven’t, is to their detriment, and left the field open for the week-long extravaganza of all things piping that is Piping Live!. Now in its 13th year, Piping Live! is now as much a part of the piping calendar as The Northern Meeting or The Argyllshire Gathering (even if it has a long way to go to match the impressive pedigree of those two cornerstones of the piping year).
It’s fair to say that Piping Live!’s remit is a world away from the competitive drive of the two big meetings but it is book ended by two heavyweight competitions. The Monday has the World Masters of Solo Piping competition with the world’s best solo pipers competing for a place in the Glenfiddich Championships and of course, the week ends with the World Pipe Band Championships at Glasgow Green. This year, Roddy MacLeod MBE took the honours at the Masters and for the first time in 10 years a Scottish band, Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia took home the coveted Worlds trophy. Between these two events there was a smorgasbord of piping from groups and individuals from such places as Italy, France, Canada, New Zealand, China, Switzerland and even Scotland. Big pipes, wee pipes and pipes with two chanters, pipes on their own, pipes with fiddles, pipes with drums and even pipes with cello, Piping Live! 2015 had room for them all.
Although the spiritual home of the festival is at The National Piping Centre the face of the festival to many in the city is the arena in George Square. After a two year hiatus (there was a small sporting event on last year – the Commonwealth Games) piping was once again slap bang in the middle of the city. The small stand was frequently packed as connoisseurs, the interested or the simply curious settled down to watch and listen to pipe bands of the quality of New Zealand Police, Canterbury Caledonian and the youngsters from West Lothian Schools to name but three of the bands entertaining at George Square.
The large crowd became a very large crowd on the Tuesday as some of the performers from the Edinburgh Military Tattoo marched on the streets around the square and then took it in turns to perform in the main arena, The massed bands filled the arena with musicians and music, the Changxing Lotus Dragon Dance Folklore Group performed a wonderfully acrobatic Dragon dance, The Top Secret Drum Corps from Switzerland dazzled with their dexterous drumming skills, the Tattoo dancers graced us with a Reel of Tulloch, The Bollywood dancers took a different but no less pleasing approach, the 37 Shetland fiddlers, gave us a taste of Shetland while the Citadel Military College band from Charleston, USA, combined brass instruments and pipes for a rousing marching sound. All in all a very satisfying taster of the world-famous Tattoo.
The pipe bands may have had to endure the vagaries of the Scottish weather (although the weather was good for most of the week) but the folk bands got to shelter in the main marquee. Those plying their trade indoors were as diverse as Frenchman Julien Cartonnet, Asturians Borja Barangaño and Ruben Bada, Italians Molifonia featuring the Italian zampogna and Hungarians Balázs Istvánfi and Balázs Vizeli with their unique and very enjoyable blend of Hungarian melodies. This international component is very important to the festival as it generates an inclusive and collaborative environment where the skills and musicianship of the players of all types of bagpipe are respected and enjoyed.
Two of the standout performances of the week came from artists a little closer to home. The Scott Wood Trio (Scott Wood on pipes/whistle, Mhairi Mackinnon on fiddle and Ron Jappy on guitar) tore the marquee apart with a blistering set that at times sounded like there were a dozen of them on the stage. Tighter than a rugby prop forward’s shirt and radiating enough energy to power the George Square Christmas lights for a decade, the band delighted the audience with a varied and beautifully played set. The ‘full’ Scott Wood Band released their CD Upsurge at the end of the week. It’s definitely one to add to the collection.
The other highlight in the marquee was a duo most of the audience had never heard of. Callum Armstrong (pipes) and George Pasca (on cello) produced a remarkable sound that featured Callum’s terrific smallpipe playing, underpinned by the deep resonant sounds of George’s cello. Playing a mix of older tunes (some from the William Dixon manuscript) and Callum’s compositions, the duo had the audience spellbound for their entire set. That enchantment turned to amazement as Callum produced a pipe with a Julian Goodacre double chanter and launched into Angie’s Jig. The technique on display as Callum moved his fingers back and forth across the chanter to get a polyphonic sound (much more attractive than it sounds) was a wonder to behold and importantly wasn’t just an exercise in finger gymnastics but a fabulous piece of music. By the time the duo got to the Rush Hour and the Shoe Lace Conundrum and the pipe being played was adorned with extra keys, it actually seemed completely normal. This was a terrific hour’s entertainment and we are destined to see much more of this talented and unique duo.
There may be Border pipes, smallpipes, douple pipes, gaitas and zampognas aplenty but the the Great Highland Bagpipe still takes centre stage. The Tuesday night saw the keenly anticipated International Quartets competition. In a packed Strathclyde Suite New Zealand Police, 78th Fraser Highlanders, Inveraray and District, Toronto Police and 78th Fraser Highlanders (Halifax) and Dowco Triumph Street competed, first with an MSR and then a medley. As always the standard was very high and there were some cracking performances, particularly medleys from both the 78th Fraser Highlanders bands. However there was little doubt in the room on the night that Inveraray and District (with Alasdair Henderson as PM and Stuart Liddell in the ‘ranks’) would be announced winner, as indeed they were.
Alex Gandy, PM of the 78th Fraser Highlanders (Halifax), was one of the featured pipers at the lunchtime recitals and his set featured relaxed chat with the audience. (Indeed, he got them to choose what MSR and piobaireachd he played – The Lament for the Viscount of Dundee). A varied set that also included Martyn Bennett’s The Magic Flute, some sweet played 6/8s and a set of jigs finishing with the Blue Lagoon made for a fabulous way to spend a lunchtime. Another relaxed performer at lunchtime was fellow Canadian Matt MacIsacc whose set resonated with a Cape Breton influence and sparkling playing. Matt’s playing also went down a treat at the Art School later that night when he teamed up with Troy MacGillvray for some more Cape Breton-inspired music. That bill also featured one of the longest established “duos” on the go, Finlay MacDonald and Chris Stout, a pairing worth walking over hot coals to get to see for their mix of smallpipes and fiddle. They played beautiful music beautifully. It’s as simple as that.
The pre-Worlds concert this year was given by the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band under pipe major Alan Bevan and it was a clever and entertaining mix of tunes. Highlights included a version of the Leonard Cohen song Hallelujah, a lovely rendition of Gordon Duncan’s Sleeping Tune followed by the Three Prophets and Blair Douglas’s superb Nelson Mandela’s Welcome to Glasgow, and a much appreciated reprieve of, a tune associated with the band for a number of years, Pachelbel’s Canon.
One of the best innovations to have come out of Piping Live! is the Pipe Idol competition. Open to those under 21, it provides a showcase for the best young piping talent from around the world. The standard is exceptional and sitting watching these young players cope magnificently with the pressures of playing to a knowledgeable audience in a competitive scenario is undoubtedly one of the great pleasures of the week. Take a bow – Rebecca Tierney, Alastair Donaghy, Robbie MacIsaac, Fergus Barry-Corderoy, Scott Barrie, Joesph Stewart, John Campbell, Alexander Schiele, Ciaren Ross, Jack Williamson, Harry McLachlan, Ryan Couples-Mendenez – you all provided fabulous entertainment. Robbie, Harry, Callum and Scott made the final with Scott taking the bragging rights and a brand new set of Fred Morrison reel pipes as the winner.
Another regular feature of Piping Live! week is product releases or showcases by those in the piping industry. Roddy MacLeod MBE showcased his RJM solo and band chanters which were released a couple of years ago and introduced his new ensemble chanter pitched in B-flat to allow easier playing with other instruments. Roddy got great support from The National Youth Pipe Band, Finlay MacDonald and last year’s Pipe Idol winner Calum Ian Brown to demonstrate the quality of his chanters.
The other major product release was the Duncan MacRae Bagpipes by Stuart Liddell, based on Stuart’s own Duncan MacRae pipes and manufactured by McCallum Bagpipes. As they intricately measured Stuart’s pipes, they found the sound chamber at the top of the middle drone was slightly smaller than that on the outside tenor so they have faithfully copied it. It was a strong cast demonstrating the pipes including Willie McCallum and Angus McColl. Stuart also played and stole the show with hornpipe versions of the Highland Wedding and the Cameronian Rant. Unfortunately, if you buy the pipes you need to bring your own fingers to the party!
The National Piping Centre auditorium was packed for the release of Fred Morrison’s new album – The Fred Morrison Trio Live at the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. Such was the reception to the initial sets they played and the clamour for more that there was a danger there wouldn’t be time to actually sell any CDs. Fortunately the crowd relented and formed an orderly – and long – queue to pick up a highly coveted signed CD.
The Friday of the week was of course the qualifiers for the Grade 1 final and those who weren’t at Glasgow Green could watch the contest via a live video stream into the auditorium in The National Piping Centre.
Also on the Friday was a recital by Angus MacColl. This was in the tent at The National Piping Centre and as Angus played, it became obvious that not only were those inside the tent quietly listening to every note but so was the large audience outside. Given that this is where people congregate and it’s where the beer tent is, this is usually a fairly noisy place yet while Angus played, it was a paragon of quiet reverence as no one wanted to interrupt the music. And what good music it was, including a full piobaireachd, a big set of 2/4s, some lighter 4/4s and finishing with an outstanding version of Fred Morrison’s The Hard Drive.
In many ways, Angus’s performance sums up Piping Live!. The old and the new side by side with no prejudice either way. If it’s good music, it’s good music. Pipes of all shapes and sizes are played in a spirit of a shared love of pipe music. Friendships are made, musical collaborations are instigated and a lot of good music is played and enjoyed.