A weekend devoted to the celebration of bagpipes in all their forms will take place in the North East this month.
The third Newcastle Piping Festival, which offers a three-day showcase for master pipers from all over the North East, the UK and beyond, will kick off on Friday, March 20, 2020.
Founded by Gateshead-based Northumbrian piper and pianist, Andy May and organised by the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society, the Festival has been given a warm welcome from across the piping community – from professional musicians and enthusiastic players to existing and new audiences – and has subsequently grown in size and ambition since its beginnings.
The 2020 event, which was inspired by the longstanding William Kennedy Piping Festival in Armagh Northern Ireland and Glasgow’s Piping Live, will feature a tuneful blend of concerts, jamming and late-night sessions, talks, workshops, playaround sessions and chances for absolute beginners to pick up some pipes and have a go for the first time.
Performers on the bill will travel from far and wide to be part of proceedings with players of the Uilleann (Irish) pipes; the Scottish bagpipes; the French pipes; and a reconstruction of a once lost 17th-century Italian instrument making their way to the region.
Andy, who performs with Jez Lowe and the Bad Pennies, the Anglo-Scandinavian five-piece Baltic Crossing and his own eponymous Trio, said he is delighted with the 2020 line up.
“It has been really amazing how quickly pipers from all over the UK and Europe have taken the Festival to their hearts – offering to come and play and enjoy the weekend,” he said.
“This year we have such wonderful players coming to perform including uilleann pipers, David Power and Tiarnan O’Duinchinn, who I don’t think have been to Newcastle before, and French piper Eric Montbel who was at the heart of the French piping revival in the 70s.
He continued: “There’s also Scotland’s Allis Sutherland who will be playing the most famous form of bagpipe, as well as the Scottish small pipes; and Marco Tomassi from Italy who will present his reconstruction of the sourdeline – a 17th century instrument which had entirely died out – for the first time in the UK.”
There will – of course – also be a number of Northumbrian pipers taking to the stage across the weekend to ensure the North East’s passionate piping traditions are well represented too.
Andy said: “Our local tradition will be represented by two outstanding Northumbrian pipers, Edric Ellis and Alice Robinson, who have been on the scene for years – I’m delighted they can be involved.”
The Festival will see concerts and sessions at venues across Newcastle, including St James’ and St Basil’s Church, Fenham, the Lit and Phil, the King’s Hall and the North Terrace and Globe pubs.
There is also a ‘Survivors Session’ planned for the Morpeth Chantry Bagpipe Museum on the Sunday for anyone who still has the bagpower!
Weekend, day or individual concert or session tickets are available and Andy, who now runs the Festival with acclaimed Border piper, Iain Gelston, is hoping more and more people from the North East come along to enjoy the Festival to the full.
He said: “Northumberland’s the only part of England to have a continuous bagpiping tradition. That’s great of course, but not everyone knows that the North East has its own traditional instrument.
“A weekend like this is a great chance for people to see the type of stuff that’s going on, to see the year-round work that the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society does. It’s also great to make links with other societies and groups around the UK and the rest of the world.”
The Newcastle Piping Festival, which is hosted and sponsored by The Northumbrian Pipers’ Society with generous assistance from The Bagpipe Society and The Lowland and Border Pipers’ Society, takes place from March 20-22, 2020. For the full programme and ticket details, visit the website here.