“Pipes of Christmas” Concerts Return for 15th Joyous Season

Concert to Feature World Premieres by Scottish Composers

The Pipes of Christmas will celebrate its fifteenth season with performances in New York and New Jersey this December. The holiday favorite, produced by the Clan Currie Society, opens on Saturday, December 14 at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, located at 921 Madison Avenue (at 73rd Street) with performances at 2 and 7PM. The concert moves across the Hudson River on Sunday, December 15 to Central Presbyterian Church located at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ
for a 2PM performance.

For those weary of the ceaseless stream of secular holiday music from department stores to TV, the Pipes of Christmas offers a spiritual and traditional take on the season that connects concertgoers to the holiday in a fresh, meaningful way. The show features tunes such as O Come, O Come Emmanuel, Joy to the World, and Amazing Grace, all performed live on pipes and drums, harp and fiddle, and organ and brass. Not only does the performance define Christmas cheer, but also it inspires those of Celtic descent to retrace and reconnect to their ancestry.

The concert presents the music of Christmas accompanied by readings taken from the Celtic literature of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales. Featured performers include James Robinson from the film “Braveheart,” New England fiddle champion Paul Woodiel, “Riverdance” uilleann piper and flutist Christopher Layer, Gaelic Mod champion harpist Jennifer Port of Golspie, Scotland, and the Pipe Major Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Pipe Band from Redlands, CA.

The concert will also feature the world premier of "Lullaby for a Prince," specially commissioned to mark the birth of HRH Prince George of Cambridge. The piece is written by Scottish composer Steve Gibb of Inverness, Scotland. Concert-goers will recall Gibb’s beautiful tune, “Balmoral Snow,” which had its World Premiere at the 2012 concerts to mark HM Queen Elizabeth’s Diamond Jubilee.

- See more at: http://blacktiemagazine.com/save_the_date_2013/Pipes_of_Christmas.htm