Tune in on our Facebook page on 11 June to watch the live stream. Click here for direct link to Facebook event. 

The Clan Donald Lands Trust’s annual piping competition, the Donald MacDonald Cuach for Piobaireachd, will be held online this year for the first time in its 35-year history. Convenor Dr Angus MacDonald will host the event live from the museum at Armadale Castle. The live broadcast will be combined with filmed performances from the five competitors and streamed at 7pm on Friday 11 June. The adjudicator is Dr Jack Taylor.

This year’s selected competitors and tunes are:

• Stuart Liddell – Moladh Morag (In Praise of Morag)
• Callum Beaumont – Cumha Mhic a h-Arasaig (MacKintosh’s Lament)
• Andrew Hayes – Piobaireachd Cheann Deise (The Earl of Ross’s March)
• Finlay Johnston – Cumha an Aona Mhic (The Lament for the only Son)
• Glenn Brown – Failt a Bhodaich (The Duke of Argyll’s Salute)

The opening local piper will be Archie Maclean from Edinbane, filmed in Armadale Castle Gardens.

Download the full programme from this page.

Dr Angus MacDonald commented: ‘Having cancelled the 2020 competition due to Covid-19 we were determined to find to way to run the competition this year. In the light of ongoing uncertainties around the pandemic we have taken what I believe to be a wise and pragmatic decision to take the competition online. We have put rigorous systems in place for recording and judging to ensure that our competition standards are not compromised. As ever, the calibre of the competitors is first-class and I am sure we can all look forward to an excellent evening of Piobaireachd.’

The event will be free to watch and streamed on our Facebook page.  After the event it will be available to watch again on Facebook and Vimeo, where you can also watch films of the 2018 and 2019 competitions.

Piobaireachd or Pibroch is the classical form of piping known as the ‘Great Music’ or Ceol Mor. To find out more see the ‘Introduction to Pibroch’ talk given by Dr Decker Forrest  – watch now on Vimeo.