Tix for Capt. John MacLellan Memorial Medal dinner-recital close soon

According to the organizers, ticket sales for the Captain John A. MacLellan Memorial Medal Dinner-Recital on August 24th in Edinburgh have been brisk. The remaining tickets will be available for purchase only until 11 p.m. (BST) on Friday, August 16th.

Held at the Waldorf Astoria Caledonian Hotel in the shadow of Edinburgh Castle, tickets to the sumptuous dinner and piobaireachds are £60. They can be bought at the Eagle Pipers Society’s website.

The event was launched in 2011 by the Captain John A. MacLellan Trust as a way to pay homage to the great piper and his music. It has since become one of the world’s most prestigious and distinctive piping competitions. The Eagle Pipers Society took over the management of the event in 2022.

Invited pipers are assigned one tune by Capt. John MacLellan to perform:

• Callum Beaumont, St. Andrew’s Scotland, “The Phantom Piper of Corrieyairack”
• Stuart Liddell, Inveraray, Scotland, “Salute to the Piobaireachd Society”
• Ian K. MacDonald, Ontario, “For My Lass, Fair, Pretty and Highland”
• Iain Speirs, Edinburgh, “Farewell to the Queen’s Ferry”

Bruce Hitchings will determine who had the best performance to win the Captain John Medal.

The competition is organized by the Eagle Pipers’ Society, an Edinburgh-based organization MacLellan co-founded in the 1960s.

The Eagle Pipers’ Society was started around 1960 as an Edinburgh-based social group for pipers in the area. It took the name because the co-founders, including MacLellan, would meet at the Eagle Bar on the Lawnmarket in Edinburgh. Subsequently, the establishment moved, and the Ensign Ewart pub now occupies the original premises. The organization eventually ran a celebrated solo competition in the 1970s.

The Eagle Pipers’ Society ceased functioning for 25 years until it was resurrected in 2010. It now boasts an international membership, with regular meetings from October to May. The Eagle Pipers necktie, which members receive on joining, has become a ubiquitous emblem worn by solo pipers worldwide.

The Waldorf-Astoria Caledonian is one of Scotland’s finest and most highly-rated hotels. It is situated almost at the western foot of Edinburgh Castle at the start of Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens in the centre of Edinburgh.

Iain Speirs has won the event five times, including the 2023 contest.