The Piobaireachd Society of Antigonish and the Celtic Society of St. Francis Xavier University will jointly sponsor an evening of Highland bagpipe music on Saturday evening, November 19th at Immaculata Hall, St. Ninian Street. The concert will begin at 7:30 PM. Tickets will be available at the door.

The concert will showcase rising young pipers from Antigonish and St. F.X., as well as the world-renowned expert, Alasdair Gillies, formerly of Scotland, but currently living and teaching piping in Pittsburgh, PA. Mr. Gillies will be in Antigonish as a guest of the Piobaireachd Society to conduct a two-day workshop on the art of playing Piobaireachd, the ancient music of the Highland Scots.

“We have some wonderful pipers at the university and in the local community,” says Tiber Falzett, President of the St. F.X. Celtic Society. “This concert will provide the public with an excellent opportunity to experience the varied styles that exist here, from highly competitive piping to traditional piping for step dancing. The funds raised will go to the St. F.X. Gaelic Scholarship Fund, which sends several students to the Hebrides each year to study Gaelic at Sabhal Mor Ostaig, on the Isle of Skye, and to live in immersion situations with families of native Gaelic speakers. There will be another concert held on April 8, 2006 that will focus on the same cause. The theme of the spring presentation will be a History of the Gael in Nova Scotia through music, song, and dance.”

Headlining the evening’s entertainment on November 19th will be world-renowned piper, Alasdair Gillies, whom many feel was the finest piper of the last half of the 20th century. Gillies continus to prove his talent at competitions, concerts and recitals around the world. Born in Scotland, he began learning to play the bagpipes at age nine under the guidance of his father, noted piper and teacher Norman Gillies of Glasgow. He enlisted in the army in 1979 and, while studying at Edinburgh Castle, passed with distinction gaining The Pipe Major’s Certificate, The Senior Teacher’s Certificate, and the Graduate Certificate from the Institute of Piping. He was employed as an instructor at the Scottish Division School of Music and later became the Pipe Major of the Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders before immigrating to the United States.

Gillies won the Former Winners’ March, Strathspey and Reel event at the Argyleshire Gathering for the first time in 1986, and has gone on to win it a total of nine times. He has won the MSR at the Glenfiddich Championship held annually in Blair Castle five times, breaking yet another record, and has placed second twice. In 1986, Gillies won every event he entered at the Northern Meeting, the most prestigious piping event in the world, taking home the Silver Medal for Piobaireachd, The Former Winners’ MSR, the Strathspey and Reel, and the Jig. He won his first Gold Medal for Piobaireachd in 1986, establishing himself as one of the world’s premier piobaireachd players. He has since won the Senior Piobaireachd at Oban twice, and the Clasp in Inverness as well as the Braemar Gold Medal for Piobaireachd in the same year. In 1992, he won three of the top four awards for piping in the world, and placed second in the fourth. He won the first Pipe Major Donald MacLeod Memorial Competition held in Stornaway, Isle of Lewis, the first G.S. MacLennan Memorial Invitational Competition in San Diego, California, and also the Strathclyde University Bicentennial Prize Pipe. His competitive record has been unequaled. The one prize that continually eluded him was the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting in Inverness, Scotland, which he won in September 2004.

To date, Gillies has released two solo recordings, the first on the March Label with Klub Records in the Pipers of Distinction Series, and the second with Lismor Recordings in the World’s Greatest Pipers series. He now teaches piping at Carnegie Melon University, in Pennsylvania where students may take a four-year degree in Music with the bagpipe as their principle instrument. Alasdair also directs the Carnegie Melon University Pipe Band.

Antigonish piper Andrea Boyd played with the Antigonish Highland Society Pipe Band when it won the Grade 4 North American Pipe Band Championship in Maxville, Ontario in 1995. An avid solo competitor, she studied piobaireachd locally, but in the fall of 1998 began to study with Bruce Gandy. She travelled to Scotland for the first time in 2000 and has returned every summer. She has since won a large number of awards in professional level solo competitions there and, for the past few years, has been playing with the Grade 1 Boghall and Bathgate Pipe Band in Scotland. She is currently in her final year at St. F.X.

In 2001, Hector Macquarrie, of Halifax participated in the Nicol-Brown Invitational Amateur Solo Piping Competition at Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut where he placed second in both the Piobaireachd and the March, Strathspey and Reel events, and third in the 6/8 March event to finish in second place overall. About five weeks later, he was in Hamilton, Ontario to take part in the George Sheriff Invitational Amateur Solo Piping Competition where he took first places in the Piobaireachd and the March, Strathspey and Reel, and a second in the 6/8 March to finish first overall. His prize included a round trip to Scotland in 2002 from which he returned with first and third prizes from the Lonach Games, and first and second prizes from the Cowal Games. He also competed at the MacGregor Cup Invitational Competition at Oban. Hector is at student at St. F.X.

Kenneth MacKenzie is a piper and fiddler from Mabou who has played with the Gaelic College and Dartmouth and District Pipe Bands. He spent a year teaching at the College of Piping in PEI. He has also been sought after in Scotland for both playing and teaching at venues such as the Ceòlas Music Festival in South Uist. He recently played in Hamish Moore's Piper's Ceilidh at Celtic Colours. Calum MacKenzie, brother to Kenneth, is a pianist and fiddler and who plays for dances across Cape Breton and has spent time playing and working in Scotland, including at the Ceòlas Music Festival in South Uist. Calum and Kenneth are both students at St. F.X. Robbie Fraser is another fiddler and pianist from Inverness Cape Breton who is sought after for playing at dances throughout the Island and is a student at St. F.X.

Paul MacDonald is a guitarist from Cape Breton who has been involved in the music scene there for several decades. In addition to being a fine accompanist, he is highly sought after for recording music and is currently working on several projects including digitizing the archives for the St. F.X. Folklore Project. He is a professor for the Celtic Music Class in the Music Department at St. F.X.

Tiber Falzett has played solos and competed with the 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel) Pipe Band. He spent a year teaching and interning at the College of Piping in PEI. He is originally from Scranton, PA but has lived in Summerside, PEI the last few years. He is working towards and honours degree in Celtic Studies at St. F.X. and is President of the St. F.X. Celtic Society.

Local high school students Adam Gillis and Mary Chisholm are two of the up-and-coming young pipers in Antigonish. The Atlantic Canada Pipe Band Association recently named Adam the Grade 2 Champion Supreme, while Mary received that honour in the Grade 3 category. Both pipers are current members of the Antigonish Highland Society Pipe Band.