Benaroya Hall Welcomes Untraditional Celtic Artists 2/4/2011

It's one of the finest assemblages of world class Scottish performing artists ever, and Benaroya Hall may never be the same. Spines shiver at this annual event as the sound of pipes drums and fiddles fill the breathtaking 2,500-seat hall in unimaginable ways.

Watching piping virtuoso Fred Morrison RAWK OUT Meatloaf-style on his Scottish smallpipes with a basic nine note range is truly a thing of wonder. His free-flowing expressive pomp on the Scottish Borderpipes shatters all perception of what a bagpiper can do. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6fRWNxqNyNk By 30 seconds into the piece, he is generally physically incapable of sitting still. And 2 minutes later his passionate delivery reaches a level that, many times, results in the accidental and uncontrollable pipe spit!

In contrast, Dr. Gary West, award-winning piper and host of BBC Radio Scotland's show Pipeline, brings a very different version of the Scottish smallpipes to the hall along with his impressive knowledge of Celtic folk music and bagpiping history. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0QorXZGGmw

Flying fingers and tunes performed with unbelievable precision -Scottish natives and Celtic newbies will all delight in the skillful presentations by multiple piping and drumming Gold Medalists and world champions. Fiddlers include: Andrea Beaton and Glenn Graham ,(Cape Breton, Nova Scotia) and Deirdre Morrison (wife of Fred Morrison she hails from Bishopton, Scotland); Pipers: Brian Donaldson (East Lothian, Scotland), Alasdair Gillies (Ullapool, Scotland), MurRay Henderson (New Zealand) Stuart Liddell (Inveraray, Scotland), Roddy MacLeod, MBE, (Glasgow, Scotland); and Drummers: Michael Cole (Chicago, IL), Tyler Fry, (Ontario, Canada), John Scullion (Ireland),) and Blair Brown (Ontario, Canada). Four dancers from Seattle and Vancouver B.C., skilled in the art of traditional Celtic dance, add to the evening.

Celtic Arts Foundation

The Celtic Arts Foundation (CAF) is based in Washington State. They produce Scottish, Irish and Celtic cultural events, provide scholarships to aspiring Celtic artists, and have an international focus. The Celtic Arts Foundation was founded in 1997, and received its 501 (c)(3) status from the IRS in March of 1998. The CAF mission is to "sponsor, encourage and promote Celtic culture through events and educational activities."

Fred Morrison - Biography

Bagpipes and bluegrass might seem unlikely musical bedfellows, but for the brilliant Scottish piper Fred Morrison, one of Celtic music's most profoundly skilled and audaciously inventive exponents, they form a wholly natural alliance. His latest album project, Outlands, featuring such top Americana luminaries as producer Gary Paczosa (Dolly Parton, Dixie Chicks, Nickel Creek), banjo/guitar ace Ron Block (Alison Krauss & Union Station) and Grammy-winning multi-instrumentalist Tim O'Brien, sets out to explore the inherent connections Morrison perceives between their traditions and his. "I've always heard a really strong affinity between my own South Vist background and the Irish travelling pipers' style played by people like Paddy Keenan," he says, "and when I started playing the Irish pipes myself, I also found this deep-down rhythmic connection with bluegrass music - to me it's as if they're all one and the same."

Although Morrison was born and raised near Glasgow, it's the celebrated Gaelic piping tradition of his father's native South Vist, in the outer Hebrides, that forms the bedrock of his intensely expressive, uniquely adventurous style. His outstanding technical prowess saw him winning many top competition prizes while still at school, meanwhile being inspired by pioneering acts like the Bothy Band and the Tannahill Weavers. Although his first-love instrument remains the great Highland bagpipes, over the years his mastery has expanded to encompass whistles, Scottish smallpipes, or reelpipes - Morrison being a pivotal populariser of this once-rare variety - and Irish uilleann pipes. He was also one of the first Scottish artists to forge dynamic links with his Celtic cousins in Brittany and north-west Spain, adding further to his repertoire of influences and tunes, and has long been renowned as an outstanding tune composer.

During the 1990s, as well as releasing his superb debut solo album The Broken Chanter, Morrison was a member of both the landmark Scottish supergroup Clan Alba and contemporary Celtic stars Capercaillie, featuring with the latter in the Hollywood movie Rob Roy. He has since pursued a diverse array of collaborative and solo projects, meanwhile releasing two more albums: the unanimously-lauded The Sound of the Sun, in 2000, and 2003's dazzling duo set with Irish bouzouki ace Jamie McMenemy, Up South.

Career highlights range from his record-breaking seventh victory in the 2004 Macallan Trophy competition at Brittany's Lorient Festival to the world premiere of his first orchestral composition Paracas: Rhapsody of the Gael - a 90-minute work performed by over 100 musicians - as the opening concert of Glasgow's Celtic Connections festival in 2005. The following year saw the launch of Morrison's very own signature instrument, the Fred Morrison Reelpipes, which have swiftly become a popular choice among today's top players. Morrison maintains a busy touring schedule, having settled into working with a hand-picked pool of leading instrumentalists, including Ed Boyd, John Joe Kelly, Steve Byrne, Paul Jennings and Matheu Watson. His current bluegrass project has him more fired up than ever before - and given Morrison's uniquely impassioned approach to music, that's saying something.

Dr. Gary West
From Pitlochry, in Perthshire, Gary West learned his piping with the much acclaimed Vale of Atholl pipe band with whom he played for 18 years winning both the Scottish and European Championships. In the late 1980s, he began to play a prominent role in the folk music scene, joining Ceolbeg in 1988, and becoming a founder member of the Scottish 'supergroup' Clan Alba in 1991, playing alongside such luminaries as Dick Gaughan and BrIan McNeil. He is in regular demand as a recording session player, and has performed on over 20 CDs. His first solo album, The Islay Ball, was released in 2001 on the Greentrax label, and has been very well received by the critics: Gary is Head of Celtic and Scottish Studies at the University of Edinburgh. His teaching and research interests include issues of local and national identity; the history of Scottish music, revivals and oral history. Gary also presents BBC Radio Scotland's weekly specialist piping programme,Pipeline.

Alasdair Gillies
Alasdair is one of the most successful solo piping competitors on the circuit today. He was taught to play by his father, Norman. His other tutors were P/M Iain M. Morrison and Capt Andrew Pitkeathly. He has won both Highland Society of London's Gold medals. Argyllshire Gathering 1989, Northern Meeting 2004], the Senior Piobaireachd at the Argyllshire Gathering and the Gold Clasp at the Northern Meeting. He has won the Former Winners March, Strathspey & Reel event at the Northern Meeting a record 11 times, has won the overall at the Glenfiddich Championship 3 times, with a record 6 wins in the MSR event.

He was a military piper in the British Army for 17 years. [1980-1997] He was the last Pipe Major of the Queen's Own Highlanders and first Pipe Major of The Highlanders. He gained a distinguished pass on the Pipe Majors course in 1986, and is holder of the Graduate certificate and Senior Teachers certificate from the Institute of Piping. His military career saw him serve in U.K. Falkland Islands [1982], Northern Ireland, [3.5 years], Germany, Desert Storm [1991], Belize and Kenya. In 1997 he took up a position in Pittsburgh, PA, to teach the Carnegie Mellon University Pipe Band. The university offers a performance degree in bagpiping. Alasdair taught until 2009.

In the summer months, Alasdair teaches at the Balmoral Summer Schools He is a long serving member of the Winter Storm and Mastery of Scottish Arts faculty.He features on numerous recordings. His solo recordings include Volume 12 of the World's Greatest Pipers series, The Pipers of Distinction series, and a new CD Rom by Ceol Mor Software, titled March Strathspey &Reel As Played By Alasdair Gillies. This features an audio recording with the written score exactly as played on the audio. In 2007 Alasdair released another solo album titled Lochbroom.

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