Liddell wins P-M Alasdair Gillies Memorial

Glasgow – August 11, 2016 – The eve of the first day of the World Pipe Band Championships didn’t deter enthusiasts from packing the Strathclyde Suite of the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to hear Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Scotland, win the first annual Pipe-Major Alasdair Gillies Memorial Recital Challenge.

Liddell won against three other invited top-tier soloists, Callum Beaumont of Linlithgow, Scotland; Alasdair Henderson of Dunoon, Scotland; and Angus MacColl of Benderloch, Scotland.

The format of the event enables players to perform their favourite music over approximately 30 minutes, and each must include a competition-style march, strathspey & reel and the ground of a piobaireachd.

The winner is picked by an undisclosed panel of pre-selected judges in the audience.

The roots of the contest are from essentially the same event held at the Lord Todd Bar at the University of Strathclyde, which was a precursor to the Piping Live! Glasgow International Piping Festival, and which is cited by many as the inspiration for the week-long extravaganza that now takes over much of the city of Glasgow every August.