Bagpipe festival will return to Glasgow for its 21st year
GLASGOW will again host one of Scotland’s largest bagpipe festivals this summer as hundreds of musicians from across the world descend on the city.
Piping Live is returning to Glasgow for its 21st year, with more than 30,000 attendees set to flock to the city between August 10-18 to celebrate the musical culture of bagpipes.
The festival will host events across multiple venues this year, ranging from Glasgow Green to Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, and for the first time Saint Luke’s, as more than 700 musicians from all over the world will be taking part.
The festival aims to host lively concerts, recitals, hard-fought competitions and engaging workshops. Tickets go on general public sale on Friday.
Finlay MacDonald, artistic director of Piping Live, says Glasgow is the perfect place to host the festival due to the city’s historic roots in the Scottish music scene and is “genuinely humbled” by the support of everyone involved.
He said: “We are very aware that for 21 years we have used venues all around Glasgow and we have got our own venues in the city centre and the west end.
“But for us, it is important to reach out and use different venues and take the festival to different venues throughout the city and we are always so well supported by the people of Glasgow it is fantastic wherever we go.”
He added: “We are just very aware it has been a difficult few years for festivals and the creative industry, and we are genuinely humbled and pleased we have been supported to this extent, and there is nowhere like Glasgow in Scotland to put on this event.”
One of the performances for the festival involves the Celtic fusion band Croft No 5 and BBC Radio Scotland Young Traditional Musician of the Year 2023 finalist, Ailis Sutherland. Speaking about collaborating with Croft No 5 in Glasgow, Sutherland said: “I think that’s the two important things playing the pipes. You get to meet people and you get to see places and that’s certainly something you get to do at Piping Live.”
Composer and piper John Mulhearn will also be playing a live rendition of his album The Pipe Factory at Saint Lukes with Croft No 5.
For full information and to book tickets, please visit www.pipinglive.co.uk