Beaumont, Bevan, Chisholm, Conn, Knichel, A. Lee ready for 5th Boney Invitational

The fifth annual Boney Music Memorial Invitational Competition & Recital on Saturday, February 15th, will be contested by Jori Chisholm (2019 winner), Alastair Lee, Zephan Knichel, Alan Bevan, James Beaumont and Gordon Conn, beginning at 6pm (PST) 9pm (EST), live-streamed via Facebook Live of the BC Pipers’ Association’s Facebook page, with donations going to the BC Cancer Foundation.

The event was started in 2015 by the renowned piper, composer, father and all-around good person, Andrew Bonar, who died in 2017 after a prolonged fight with brain cancer.

The top five pipers in the annual BCPA Open Piping Grand Aggregate standing and the previous year’s winner of the Boney Music Memorial Invitational each will perform a medley of various musical styles.

The event moves to the officer’s mess of the Seaforth Armoury in Vancouver, headquarters of the Seaforth Highlanders’ of Canada, one of Canada’s oldest Scottish regiments, and the oldest continuously active pipe band in British Columbia.

The historic officer’s mess of the armoury features, among other artifacts, a bloodstained map of the Seaforth Highlanders’ attack plan at Vimy Ridge and a silver wine cooler from the Napoleonic Wars in the 19th century.

Jori Chisholm was the winner of the 2019 Boney Invitational. The event and the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band organization has raised more than a $100,000 for the charity of the last five years.

Andrew Bonar was one of the most accomplished piers in the Canadian history. Among his awards were the Silver Medal at the Northern Meeting, the MacCrimmon Cairn for piobaireachd at the Vancouver Indoor Meet on several occasions, and the North American Piping Championship at the Glengarry Highland Games at Maxville, Ontario. He was a front-rank member of the Grade 1 Simon Fraser University Pipe Band for more than 30 years, winning five World Championships along the way.

Bonar’s son, Cameron, is an accomplished and up-and-coming solo piper and member of the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band.

pipes|drums has once again made a donation to the BC Cancer Foundation in memory of Andrew Bonar, and provided heavily discounted advertising to the organizers.

Related

Chisholm and charity win at the 2019 Boney Music Memorial Invitational
February 9, 2019

Boney Memorial Invitational: Alastair Lee
February 25, 2018

Memories of Boney
October 20, 2017

SFU family surprises Boney’s family
September 15, 2017

Boney Invitational goes to Andrew Lee
February 12, 2017

First Boney Invitational goes to Troy
February 16, 2016