NEW YORK – Celebrated Scots Gaelic singer, Gillebrìde MacMillan, has joined the company of the 2014 edition of the Pipes of Christmas.

Gillebrìde MacMillan

The beloved Celtic Christmas concert will celebrate its sixteenth season with performances in New York and New Jersey this December. MacMillan portrays Gwyllyn the Bard in the smash hit Sony STARZ series, Outlander. concert presents the music of Christmas accompanied by readings taken from the Celtic literature of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.

 

Joining MacMillan in the stellar lineup are James Robinson from the film “Braveheart,” New England fiddle champion Paul Woodiel and “Riverdance” uilleann piper and flutist Christopher Layer (both playing for Sting’s “The Last Ship” on Broadway), Gaelic Mod champion harpist Jennifer Port of Golspie, Scotland, guitarist Steve Gibb from Broadway’s “Jersey Boys,” and the Pipe Major Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Pipe Band from Redlands, CA.

About Gillebrìde MacMillan

Gillebrìde MacMillan is one of the most sought after modern Scottish Gaelic singers. A native Scottish Gaelic speaker from the Outer Hebrides, Gillebrìde is a regular performer at some of the most prestigious Celtic music festivals throughout the world. He also stars as ‘Gwyllyn the Bard’ in the Sony Starz TV adaptation of Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander. As Gwyllyn, he regales those in Castle Leoch with traditional Gaelic songs and tales. MacMillan’s role as the Bard has been widely acclaimed for it’s subtelty, authenticity and musicality. Outlander has been a huge ratings success and the dedicated followers of the books and the TV series have been fulsome in their praise of MacMillan’s portrayal of the medieval bard.

Gillebrìde MacMillan
Gillebrìde MacMillan is a fluent, first language Gaelic speaker. Gaelic is the first language and he then learned English in school. He comes from a family with strong Gaelic song and music traditions as his father was an accomplished piper and his mother has a great knowledge of Gaelic songs and poetry.

 

As well as being a singer, Gillebrìde MacMillan is also a published writer, songmaker and poet and he has performed his self-penned songs and poetry internationally. He has also translated many books from English to Gaelic. Amonsgt his translations are versions of ‘Romeo and Juliet’ and ‘A Christmas Carol’. He has also translated three ‘Adventures of Tintin’ books.

 

Gillebrìde MacMillan is fluent in Gaelic, Spanish, Galician and English. He has also released two critically acclaimed CDs, Thogainn Ort Fonn (I’d Sing You a song) and Air Fòrladh (On Leave) – both these are available in hard copy or by digital download.

 

He has also recorded songs on other CDs, notably Mary Ann Kennedy & Na Seòid and Tilleadh Dhachaidh by Ethel McCallum. Gillebrìde is also an accomplished song researcher and expert and in 2013 he produced a CD of traditional songs from his native South Uist.

Gillebrìde MacMillan

One reviewer described MacMillan as having “a voice that wine writers would love to set their vocabularies loose on – mahogany richness with hints of sea salt, perhaps – and he has a way of singing in Gaelic that conveys the gist and tone of a song by subtle inflection.”

 

Another reviewer commented that his CD, Air Fòrladh “is full of excellent songs sung by one of Gaeldom’s best singers.” MacMillan has performed widely for BBC music shows.

 

MacMilan also was part of the Clan Currie Society’s 2014 MacMhuirich Symposium last June where he sang a selection of MacMhuirich/Currie poetry accompanied by harper Simon Chadwick. These performances can be viewed on Clan Currie’s YouTube Channel.

 

This is his first visit to ‘Pipes of Christmas’.

 

Produced by the Clan Currie Society, the 2014 season opens on Saturday, December 20 at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, located at 921 Madison Avenue (at 73 Street) with performances at 2 and 7PM. The concert moves across the Hudson River on Sunday, December 21 to Central Presbyterian Church located at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ for a 2PM performance.

Proceeds Support Scholarships and More

Proceeds from the concert support an extensive music scholarship program which includes annual gifts to the National Piping Centre and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (both located in Glasgow,) the Gaelic College of Nova Scotia and Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas.

 

Proceeds also support the Society’s sponsorship of the US National Scottish Harp Championship, the Gaelic Literature Competition at the Royal National Mod and an annual academic research prize at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, Scotland’s Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye.

 

The Clan Currie Society also hosts an annual academic symposium which brings together top scholars and historians to explore the history and contributions of Scotland’s Gaelic culture.

 

In addition, the Society hosts the annual Tartan Day on Ellis Island observances (estimated to be the largest Tartan Day event in the world) and the Harp Glen – a festival of the Scottish harp – at the Seaside Highland Games in Ventura, CA.

 

Commenting on the Society’s music scholarship program, stage and screen star and former Honorary Chairman of the concerts, Alan Cumming said, “I am delighted that proceeds from the Pipes of Christmas will result in these important gifts which ensure that the future of Scottish culture is safer with these generous scholarships.”

 

Named one of New York City’s “Top Ten” holiday events, the concert is made possible by a generous gift from Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland and the Grand Summit Hotel in Summit, NJ.

Tickets Available Now

General admission tickets start at $50 and are available via mail order. A downloadable ticket order form can be found on the concert’s website at www.pipesofchristmas.com. Tickets for the NY concert may also be purchased online through SmartTix at www.smarttix.com or by phone at (212) 868-4444. Reserved patron seats are available at both venues.

About “The Pipes of Christmas”

Since making its debut in 1999, The Pipes of Christmas has played to standing room only audiences. Now a cherished holiday event, the concert provides audiences with a stirring and reverent celebration of the Christmas season and the Celtic spirit. Audience-goers return year after year to experience the program, many reporting that the Pipes of Christmas has become part of their family’s annual Christmas tradition.

 

The concert has been lavished with critical acclaim. In his review for Classical New Jersey Magazine, Paul Somers wrote, “The whole evening was constructed to introduce gem after gem and still have a finale which raised the roof. In short, it was like a well constructed fireworks show on the Glorious Fourth. The Westfield Leader described the concert as “a unique sound of power and glory nowhere else to be found.”

About the Clan Currie Society

The Clan Currie Society, based in Summit, NJ and Edinburgh, Scotland is an international, non-profit cultural and educational organization. It is the preeminent Scottish-American cultural society in preserving and promoting Highland heritage at Scottish Games, ethnic festivals, as well as community groups and classrooms. The Society has over 2,000 members worldwide that gather via the Society’s website and at special events and clan gatherings.

 

The Society was originally formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1959 to further the knowledge and appreciation of the MacMhuirich (pronounced MacVurich) Bardic dynasty. The MacMhuirichs served for over 700 years as professional poets to the Lords of the Isles and later to the MacDonalds of Clanranald among other prominent Highland clans and families. The Red Book of Clanranald, one of Gaelic Scotland’s literary treasures, was penned by successive generations of the MacMhuirich family.

 

Today, the Society is a respected producer of programs and events to honor Scotland’s rich culture and heritage. The Society’s signature events include The Pipes of Christmas, the annual observance of Tartan Day on Ellis Island – the largest attended Tartan Day event in the world, and the annual MacMhuirich Academic Symposium. The Society is also a founding member of the NY Tartan Week Alliance with oversight for many of the anchor events of Tartan Week including, Whisky Live, From Scotland With Love, and Tartan Day on Ellis Island.

 

To commemorate the 10 annual observance of Tartan Day on Ellis Island, the Society commissioned and launched the Ellis Island Tartan in April 2011. The tartan is designed primarily for all Americans whose ancestors came to the United States through Ellis Island. The Society’s growing scholarship program provides financial support for students wishing to further their studies in music, poetry, and Gaelic history.

 

The Society has spearheaded the construction of two permanent clan monuments in Scotland. A MacMhuirich Memorial Cairn has been built adjacent to the 15 century ruins of Bale nam Bàrd, the Chief Bard’s home at Stilligarry on the Island of South Uist. A carved stone, commemorating the bard Lachlan Mòr MacMhuirich, has been installed at Makars Court alongside the Scottish Writers Museum in Edinburgh.

 

Clan Currie is an outstanding producer of exhibitions and documentary films. Past exhibitions have included “The Life and Legacy of John Muir,” “Tartan – Scotland’s Enduring Icon,” and “Loyalty and Rebellion: The Jacobites and America.” The Society received one of its many awards for video production excellence for “The Crafter’s Song”, a documentary film narrated by Cliff Robertson.

 

The Arms of the Society were granted by the Court of the Lord Lyon, Edinburgh, Scotland on June 30, 2006. The star, or mullet, is a heraldic symbol frequently found on individual Currie family coats of arms in Scotland. The thistle wreath, or chaplet, represents the international community the Society has created in “promoting Scottish heritage in general and Clan Currie heritage in particular, involving domestic and international matters.”