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In what has become a firm holiday favorite, The Pipes of
Christmas concert series celebrated its sixteenth season
with performances in New York and New Jersey
this December.
The concert presented the music of Christmas accompanied by
readings taken from the Celtic literature of Scotland,
Ireland, and Wales. Featured performers included 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.
Produced by the Clan Currie Society, the 2014 season opened
on Saturday, December 20 at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian
Church, located at 921 Madison Avenue (at 73rd Street)
with performances at 2 and 7PM. The concert moved across the
Hudson River on Sunday, December 21 to Central Presbyterian
Church located at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ for a 2PM
performance.
For those weary of the ceaseless stream of secular seasonal
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, and Amazing
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.
Concert to Mark the Christmas Truce of 1914
For 2014, the concert commemorated the
Christmas Truce of 1914 – the historic unofficial ceasefires
that took place along the Western Front during World War1. Through
the week leading up to Christmas, parties of Scottish,
French and German and soldiers began to exchange seasonal
greetings and songs between their trenches.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, many
soldiers from all sides ventured into "no man's land", where
they mingled, exchanging food and souvenirs. As well as
joint burial ceremonies, several meetings ended in
carol-singing. Troops from both sides were also friendly
enough to play games of football with one another. The truce
is often seen as a symbolic moment of peace and humanity
amidst one of the most violent events of human history.
The concert also featured a tribute to
legendary Cape Breton fiddler, Buddy MacMaster who passed in
August at the age of 89.
New Musical Works to Have Their Premiere
As is customary with the Pipes of Christmas,
the 2014 concerts featured two world premieres of new music.
After successfully debuting in 2013, the concert will
feature the premier of a new work featured by a music
student of Edinburgh Napier University as part of the annual
Alexander McCall Smith Composition Contest.
Sunday concertgoers were also be treated to a
new pipe tune, “The Garden State March,” composed by
renowned piper Duncan Bell. The tune has been commissioned
by the Clan Currie Society in commemoration of the 350th anniversary
of the State of
New Jersey.
New Jersey began in 1664 as a royal gift.
Charles II of England granted a sizeable parcel of land on
the east coast of North America to his brother James, Duke
of York. James in turn gave a piece of this valuable real
estate to two loyal noblemen, Sir George Carteret and John
Lord Berkeley.
The document that records this transaction,
now housed at the New Jersey State Archives in Trenton,
proclaims that “said Tract of Land is hereafter to be called
by the name or names of New Cesarea or New Jersey.” And so
New Jersey was born.
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.
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 10th 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 15th 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.”
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