The Pipes of Christmas will celebrate its fifteenth season with performances in New York and New Jersey this December. The holiday favorite, produced by the Clan Currie Society, opens on Saturday, December 14 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 15 to Central Presbyterian Church located at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ for a 2PM performance.
The Pipes of Christmas celebrates its 15th joyous anniversary in 2013
For those weary of the ceaseless stream of secular holiday music from department stores to TV, the Pipes of Christmas offers a spiritual and traditional take on the season that connects concertgoers to the holiday in a fresh, meaningful way. The show features tunes such as O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Joy to the World, andAmazing Grace, all performed live on pipes and drums, harp and fiddle, and organ and brass. Not only does the performance define Christmas cheer, but also it inspires those of Celtic descent to retrace and reconnect to their ancestry.
The concert presents the music of Christmas accompanied by readings taken from the Celtic literature of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Featured performers include James Robinson from the film “Braveheart,” New England fiddle champion Paul Woodiel, “Riverdance” uilleann piper and flutist Christopher Layer, Gaelic Mod champion harpist Jennifer Port of Golspie, Scotland, and the Pipe Major Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Pipe Band from Redlands, CA.
The Pipes of Christmas raises funds for cultural heritage scholarships
The concert will also feature the world premier of “Lullaby for a Prince,” specially commissioned to mark the birth of HRH Prince George of Cambridge. The piece is written by Scottish composer Steve Gibb of Inverness, Scotland. Concert-goers will recall Gibb’s beautiful tune, “Balmoral Snow,” which had its World Premiere at the 2012 concerts to mark HM Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.
There will also be a new work written for the clarsach (Scottish harp) composed by a music student of Edinburgh Napier University as part of the university’s Christmas Composition Contest.
Mark Standish, Royal Bank of Canada Capital Markets
Honorary Chairs for the 2013 concerts are acclaimed Scottish writer Alexander McCall Smith author of the highly successful “No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency” series and Mark Standish, Co-Group Head, Capital Markets and Investor & Treasury Services, Royal Bank of Canada.
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.
The Clan Currie Society also sponsors the US National Scottish Harp Championship, the Children’s Literature Prize 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 Society also produces the Harp Glen – a festival of the Scottish harp – at the Seaside Highland Games in Ventura, CA, and participates in Scottish Highland Games and Festivals in the US, Canada and Scotland.
Commenting on the Society’s music scholarship program, stage and screen star 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.”
An experience that has become a tradition for many can be a special event for anyone. As cool weather arrives, tune into the holiday spirit and prepare to be inspired by the Pipes of Christmas.
Named one of New York City’s “Top Ten” holiday events, the concert is made possible by generous gifts from Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland, Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Capital Markets and the Grand Summit Hotel in Summit, NJ.
Additional support for the concerts come from Celtic Life Magazine, the Classic Malts of Scotland and Grigich Hills Estate wines.
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 atwww.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.”
