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“Pipes of Christmas” Fundraising Concerts
Return this December
The Pipes of Christmas
will celebrate its fourteenth season
with performances
in New York and New Jersey this December.
The holiday favorite, produced by the Clan Currie Society,
opens on Saturday, December 15 at the Madison Avenue
Presbyterian Church, located at
921 Madison Avenue (at 73rd
Street)
with performances at 2 and 7PM.
The concert moves
across the Hudson River
on Sunday, December 16 to Central
Presbyterian Church
located at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ
for a 3PM performance.
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” piper Christopher Layer,
Gaelic Mod champion harpist Jennifer Port of Golspie,
Scotland, and the Pipe Major Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial
Pipe Band.
Acclaimed Gaelic tenor Paul McCallum from the island of
South Uist in Scotland’s Outer Hebrides will be making his
New York debut in the 2012 concerts. Jeff Rickard, Emeritus
Professor of Music from the University of Redlands and
former “Pipes” organist for the past 12 years makes his
debut as music director.
The concert will also feature the world
premier of "Sea of Tranquility," specially commissioned
to honor the memory of astronaut Neil Armstrong. The piece
is written by Scottish composer James Ross of Wick,
Scotland.
The concert will also celebrate HM Queen
Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee with a new work composed by
Steve Gibb of Inverness, Scotland.
Proceeds from the
concerts support a 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 is also the
Title Sponsor of the US National Scottish Harp Championship.
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.”
Named one of New York City’s “Top Ten” holiday events, the
2012 concerts are made possible by generous gifts from
Edinburgh Napier University, Edinburgh, Scotland,
Mercedes-Benz USA, and the Grand Summit Hotel.
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 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 (NJ) Leader described the concert as
“a unique
sound of power and glory nowhere else to be found.”
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