30 hours of Piping Live! 2023 to be available on improved internet platform

The Piping Live! Glasgow International Festival of Piping is going global more than ever by expanding its online programming of the 2023 August events to a total of 30 hours of broadcast coverage.

The organizers are using new viewing software, allowing viewers to subscribe to see all of the events in one £55 package in a mix of livestream and recorded “premiered” events:

• Masters Solo Piping Competition, Monday, August 14th
• Lunchtime Recital – “The Pipes of John MacColl” with Angus D. MacColl, Wednesday, August 16th
• Canntaireachd with Kim Carnie, Ailis Sutherland, Kathleen MacInnes and Brighde Chaimbeul –Wednesday, August 16th
• Pipe Idol Grand Final, Thursday, August 17th
• Lunchtime Recital – “The Pipes of Hugh MacCallum, with Willie McCallum, Thursday, August 17th
• Lunchtime Recital – “The Pipes of Hugh MacCallum, Friday, August 18th
• Lothian & Borders Piping Society concert, Thursday, August 17th
• Gordon Duncan Memorial Competition, Sunday, August 20th
• Friday Night Folk featuring Project SMOK and The Eryn Rae Band, Tuesday, August 22nd
• Closing Concert with the Ross Ainslie & Ali Hutton Band, Jarlath Henderson and Innes Watson, Monday, August 21st.

You can also purchase online events a la carte and rewatch anything you please until noon GMT, Monday, August 28th.

“We hope that the audience members will have the best possible Piping Live! experience they can have, without being there in person.” – Helen Urquhart, Marketing & Piping Events Manager

“The format for this year will see the events that have to be live, for example, competitions with results that you need to hear live, are staying live, but for some of our concerts and events that don’t have that results-driven end point, these are being filmed ‘as-live’ then broadcast at a slightly later day and time,” said festival Marketing & Piping Events Manager Helen Urquhart. “This allows the organizing team to overcome some of the quality control issues and livestream technical glitches that have been seen in the past. So, by cherry picking the ‘must-see-live’ events as well as producing the best quality recordings and premiering them online, we hope that the audience members will have the best possible Piping Live! experience they can have, without being there in person.”

Now in its twentieth year, Piping Live! reportedly attracts more than 30,000 visitors to Glasgow and injects millions of pounds into the local economy.

“Piping is more popular than ever, there are more people from diverse backgrounds playing, the music is both steeped in tradition as well as forward-looking and innovative,” said Finlay MacDonald, Artistic Director of Piping Live!, in a statement. “This rise in popularity is in no small part down to the continued support from our audiences and the dedication of the teams behind Piping Live! and the World Pipe Band Championships. There’s a real energy in the piping and drumming scene in anticipation of Piping Live! this year. Glasgow is certainly going to be alive with music, friendship and camaraderie.”

Piping Live! is supported/sponsored by EventScotland, Glasgow Life and VisitScotland.