NYPB April 3rd Perth concert to be broadcast live on the net

Not only will the National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland will bring its acclaimed “Dragon’s Lair” show to an audience at the Concert Hall in Perth, Scotland, on April 3rd, but the event will be broadcast live for free via Celtic Music Radio around the world. The show, which received a four-star rating from the Scotsman newspaper when it was staged last November at Edinburgh’s prestigious Usher Hall, is a full, two-hour production with elaborate staging.

While competitions like the 2009 World Championships and last month’s Breton Pipe Band Championships, have been streamed live, a real-time broadcast of a full pipe band concert is thought to be a first for the piping and drumming world.

The National Youth Pipe Band of Scotland is made up of pipers and drummers between the ages of 10 and 25 who live in Scotland. The band does not compete, and is the brainchild of the National Piping Centre, which manages the project. Because the NYPB is not graded and is not a member of any association, most of its members also play with competing pipe bands.

Alisdair McLaren, the band’s director, said, “When we performed the Dragon’s Lair in Edinburgh we received an incredible response so we are delighted to be staging a follow-up show in Perth, the birth place of so many fantastic and inspirational pipers.”

The show is described as “a fusion of pipes and drums with electric guitar, keyboard synthesizer, stand-up bass, fiddle and drum kit [that] pushes the boundaries of the stereotypical pipe band concert making it a must see show for all fans of Celtic music.”

McLaren, originally from Australia, was appointed director of the NYPB in January 2009.