The Glenfiddich Piping and Fiddle Championships are musical competitions for the bagpipes and fiddle. Both competitions take place annually in late autumn, at the ballroom of Blair Castle at Blair Atholl in Perthshire, Scotland. Entry to each championship is by invitation only, to those who have won various recognised major UK solo competitions held throughout the year.
Contents
The Glenfiddich Piping Championship
The Glenfiddich Piping Championship was established in 1974 to inspire and stimulate individual pipers, and to seek the best overall exponents of the Ceòl Mór or piobaireachd (the great music) and Ceòl Beag (the little music).
The championship was founded and continues to be run by William Grant & Sons., distillers of Glenfiddich and other whiskies.
Ten of the leading pipers in the world, all of whom will have won important awards since the previous October, are invited. Each of them submits a list of eight piobaireachd, and is required to play one of them. They also submit lists of six marches, strathspeys and reels, and play one of each, twice through.
There are prizes in each discipline, and an overall championship prize.
2012 Championship
The Glenfiddich Piping Championship 2012 was won by Iain Speirs of Edinburgh.
Other 2012 finalists included returning champion Roddy MacLeod M.B.E. of Glasgow, Callum Beaumont of Bo'ness, Murray Henderson from Kirriemuir, Finlay Johnston from Glasgow, William McCallum from Bearsden, Stuart Liddell of Inveraray, Euan MacCrimmon of Isle of Skye, Gordon Walker of Ayr and Canadian-based piper Jack Lee from Surrey, a suburb of Vancouver.
Previous championships
Previous Glenfiddich Piping Championship Winners from the last 20 years:
The Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship
The Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship was added in 1989 to the existing Glenfiddich Piping Championships – to reward, encourage and perpetuate the art of fiddle playing throughout the world.
Eight finalists are hand selected to compete following successes throughout the year, with each finalist giving a recital incorporating all the various styles of composition including a set of tunes by a specific composer – a new composer is chosen annually.
2015 Championship
The Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship 2015 was won by George Davidson of Tarves in Aberdeenshire. Second place went to Maggie Adamson of Fladdabister, Shetland, and third place went to Mari Black of Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
2014 Championship
The Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship 2014 was won by Mari Black of Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Second place went to George Davidson of Tarves in Aberdeenshire, and third place went to Maura Shawn Scanlin of Boone, North Carolina, USA.
2012 Championship
The Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship 2012 was won by Maggie Adamson from Shetland. Second place went to Erin Smith of Aberdeen, and third place went to Ronald Jappy of Findochty.
Previous championships
Glenfiddich Fiddle Championships winners: