Fred Morrison Canadian Maritimes tour announced for May

He is perhaps the closest thing that Scottish piping world has to a Rockstar, and now Fred Morrison will take his show to the Canadian Maritimes with a four-stop concert tour in May.

Morrison will Morrison play shows at the Celtic Performing Arts Centre in Summerside, Prince Edward Island, on May 1st; the Aberdeen Cultural Centre in Moncton, New Brunswick, on May 3rd; Cape Breton University in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on May 5th; and the Mic Mac Aquatic Club in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, on May 7th.

The tour is co-presented by the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo and various pipe bands throughout throughout Canada’s eastern-most provinces to bring the Bishopton, Scotland-based Morrison to the masses. At each event, a local pipe band will be the opening act.

In addition to the Summerside gig, Morrison will judge the Atlantic Canada Piobaireachd Challenge on May 2nd, at the College of Piping. Maritimer John Walsh will judge the light music.

The shows are in support of the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo’s Youth Pipes & Drums Program, recently launched under the direction of the organization’s managing director and executive producer director, Scott Long, who was previous head of nonprofit Music Nova Scotia.

Proceeds from the concerts will be split with each co-presenting local pipe band, and the other half going to the Youth Pipes & Drums Program, which supports the development of Highland bagpiping and pipe band drumming in Nova Scotia through cash grants, instrument loans and donations to youth-oriented non-profit organizations.

“We are thrilled to co-present Fred Morrison with our local pipe band partners from across the Maritimes”, Long said. “This is a great opportunity to hear some of the best piping in the world all the while supporting youth piping and drumming and pipe bands from our region.”

Fred Morrison has won both Highland Society of London Gold Medals, and is renowned for staging consistently jaw-dropping virtuoso performances on Highland, uilleann and Scottish smallpipes. He has released several best-selling and well reviewed commercial recordings throughout his career, which spans over three decades.

Most of the performing bands will use the money to offset costs of getting to the 2020 World Pipe Band Championships.

The College of Piping Pipe Band will play the Summerside show, Moncton District the New Brunswick event, the Cape Breton University Pipe Band will play Sydney, and Dartmouth & District will open the Dartmouth concert.

Tickets ($20-25) for all of the events go on sale Monday, February 10, from the Royal Nova Scotia International Tattoo.

Related

Nova Scotia Tattoo gets some skin in piping and drumming development game
December 14, 2019