University of Strathclyde Recital Challenge 2010. 

Stuart Liddell

Stuart, from Inveraray, started piping at the age of nine and was originally taught by his grandfather, the late Pipe Major Ronnie McCallum MBE and Arthur Gillies, and also receives tuition from Jim Henderson and Hugh MacCallum.

For six years he was a member of the Scottish Power Pipe Band thereafter joining the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band from Vancouver, Canada. He is now concentrating on leading the Inveraray and District Pipe band to glory, this year they are in Grade 2, and scored a memorable victory at the Scottish Championships may 2009, at their first attempt.

Stuart is a self-employed Piano Tuner and Piping Tutor.

His solo achievements include both Gold Medals at the Argyllshire Gathering and Northern Meeting. In 2007 he won the coveted Gold Clasp at the Northern Meeting as well as several recital contests.

His pipe band achievements include winning the World Pipe Band Championships with SFU in 1999 and 2001.

Recordings:
1997 Piping Centre Recital Series Vol.2
2007 Inveroran

Angus MacColl

Angus MacColl hails from Benderloch near Oban in Argyllshire and began piping as a young boy, initially taught by his late father. He comes from an illustrious piping family and is the Great Grand Nephew of the legendary piper and composer John MacColl. With years of piping still ahead, Angus’s contribution to the MacColl dynasty is certain to rival that of his forebears.

Angus has a tremendous track record in competitive piping and has won virtually every award in piping. His long list of achievements includes the Gold Medals at Inverness and Oban, the Glenfiddich Championship twice, the Clasp at Inverness three times, the Senior Piobaireachd at Oban three times, the Silver Star for former winners MSR at Inverness and the former winners MSR at Oban on several occasions.
 
He excels as an entertainer and is constantly in demand at recitals throughout the country as well as being demand as a teacher at several piping schools in North America. He has won the Todds bar recital competition on four occasions and is the current champion.
Angus is a member of the Sprit of Scotland Pipe Band.

Alasdair Gillies

Alasdair is one of the most successful solo competitors on the circuit today.
 
He has won both Highland Society of London’s Gold medals. [Argyllshire Gathering 1989, Northern Meeting 2004], the Senior Piobaireachd at the Argyllshire Gathering and the Gold Clasp at the Northern Meeting. He has won the Former Winners March, Strathspey & Reel event at the Northern Meeting a record 11 times, has won the overall at the Glenfiddich Championship 3 times, with 6 wins in the MSR event.

He was a military piper in the British Army for 17 years. [1980-1997] He was the last Pipe Major of the Queen’s Own Highlanders and first Pipe Major of The Highlanders. He gained a distinguished pass on the Pipe Majors course in 1986, and is holder of the Graduate certificate and Senior Teachers certificate from the Institute of Piping.

Now based in Pittsburgh, PA, he teaches the Carnegie Mellon University Pipe Band. The university offers a performance degree in bagpiping.
In the summer months, Alasdair teaches at the Balmoral Summer Schools. He is a long serving member of the Winter Storm and Mastery of Scottish Arts faculty.

He features on numerous recordings. His solo recordings include Volume 12 of the World’s Greatest Pipers series, The Pipers of Distinction series, and a new CD Rom by Ceol Mor Software, titled March Strathspey &Reel As Played By Alasdair Gillies. This features an audio recording with the written score exactly as played on the audio. Last August, saw the release of his newest CD. ‘Lochbroom’. This was recorded at various recitals in Scotland in 2007.

Alasdair is a member of the Sprit of Scotland Pipe Band.

Alan Bevan
 

Alan Bevan has won several major prizes in Scotland, including the Gold Medal (2008) Silver Medal (1994) and the ‘A’ Strathspey and Reel (1998) at the Northern Meeting. In 2003 he won both the Jig at the Argyllshire Gathering and the Hornpipe & Jig at the Northern Meeting. More recently, he was the overall winner at the 2009 Donald MacLeod Memorial Invitational.

Formerly P/M of the grade 1 Abbotsford Police Pipe Band, Alan has been a member of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band since 1995. He has won the World Championship with the band on several occasions, most recently in 2008. Alan has performed with the SFU Pipe Band at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, the Sidney Opera House and Carnegie Hall.

Alan is in demand throughout North America as a teacher, adjudicator, and pipe band clinician. In May 2008, he was called to the British Columbia Bar and he now practices as a barrister. Alan lives in Abbotsford, BC.

Barry began his drumming career at aged 10 with his local band Mauchline and District and within 4 years had progressed to Grade 1 and the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band. Here he would remain for the next 16 years playing on the flank of arguably the most successful drum corps of all time winning an amazing 40 major drum corps titles, including 12 World Drum Corps Championships and a grand slam of 5 titles in 1995 which took in a run of 11 titles in a row.

Barry Wilson

Barry is now lead tip with the Scottish Power Pipe Band, and in his first year led the corps to a top 6 finish in the Champion of Champions table. They continue to consolidate their position in the top flight of Grade 1.

Since his first appearance in 1987 at the World Solo Drumming Championships where he took a 5th place, the following 2 years saw him crowned juvenile World Champion. The year after, in his first year in the adult section Barry achieved a 4th place where he has continued to be rarely out the top 6. In 2007 Barry realised his dream and won the Adult Championship for the first time and in 2008 topped this by successfully defending his title to remain the current World Solo Champion.

Barry also continues to hold down a day job as a Quantity Surveyor in the construction industry, living in Kilmarnock with his partner Kineta Mordaunt and their son Charlie who was born in March. 

Jim Kilpatrick  MBE

Jim started playing drums at the age of 10. His progress was so rapid that within 2 years he was competing at the highest level in Grade 1 competition.

At the age of 15, he joined his present band, the House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band. It was at the age of 15 that Jim won his first World Drum Corps and World Pipe Band Championships, the first of Jim's record 18 World Drum Corps Championships. Fourteen of these titles have been won as a leading drummer. This also includes winning the World Drum Corps Championship for an amazing record breaking 11 years in a row. Another record that Jim holds is that of being the only leading drummer ever to win the Grand Slam which is all 5 major drumming championships in the one season. This run coincided with him actually winning 13 major drumming championships in a row over 3 seasons.

Jim’s move into the solo drumming arena proved to be equally successful. He has smashed every record in the books by winning the World Solo Drumming Championships no less then 16 times.

Jim’s talent and reputation is such that he is continuously invited to teach in schools and colleges all over the world, as well as making countless appearances at drum clinics and percussion festivals around the world including The Royal School of Music (London & Glasgow) and The Percussion Arts Society Conventions in the USA. Jim currently teaches percussion students at the Royal School of Music in Glasgow and is also principal instructor for the BA Scottish Music (Percussion) course at the same school. Jim has received the “Life Time Achievement Award” for drumming from the British Chapter of the Percussion Arts Society in London.

In 2004, Jim was awarded the MBE for his services to music by Her Majesty The Queen in her birthday honours list - a significant milestone in any musician's career, but completely unique to Jim in the world of pipe band snare drumming.

Reid Maxwell

SFU Lead Drummer J. Reid Maxwell is certainly one of today's most decorated drummers. When the SFU Pipe Band captured "the Worlds" in 1995, Reid became the first person in history to lead the drum corps of two different bands to be named World Pipe Band Champions (his other victory being in 1987 with Toronto's 78th Fraser Highlanders, also the 1987 World Drum Corps Champions.)

All this was preceded by two World Pipe Band Championships and four World Drum Corps Championships as a teenaged member of Scotland's Dysart & Dundonald Pipe Band!

With the band's capture of the 1999 World Pipe Band Championship and World Drum Corps Championship, Reid obtained his 12th World Championship, an amazing feat by any standard. In 2000, Reid placed second in the World Solo Drumming Championship.

His ability to produce exceptional drum corps and his dedication to the instruction of young drummers is held in high regard worldwide.

Gordon Brown

Gordon was born in Whitburn, West Lothian and from an early age showed a keen interest in Drumming. His Father, Tom, taught him on and off during those early years, but it was in 1976 at the age of 12, that he took it up seriously. He joined the Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia Novice Juvenile Band in November that year, where his dad was already teaching the youngsters and the then Grade 3 Corps. In 1978, the Grade 3 Band was upgraded to Grade 2 and Gordon became a member of that Drum Corps.

Gordon and the Boghall Band were promoted to Grade 1 Status in 1980 and in their first season, they won the Cowal Drumming Championship. The next three seasons saw them lift a fine hat trick of World Drum Corps Championships; 1981, 82 and 83, as well as every other drumming award. This continued throughout the eighties and included another World Drumming Title in 1986.

In 1991, Gordon took over as Leading Drummer of the Grade 1 Corps from his dad and it didn’t take him long to win his first Major Drumming Award as Leading Drummer when the Corps won the European Drumming Title that same year. To date Gordon has won the Scottish, British, European and Cowal Championships on numerous occasions with both the Corps and as a Band.

In  1994, Gordon won the World Solo Drumming Championship and he repeated that feat in the 2002 event. In between times he has regularly been placed in the top three.

Since Gordon became involved in teaching, he has taught throughout Scotland, England, Northern Ireland, Eire, Brittany, Switzerland, Denmark, South Africa, The United States and Canada. Through his achievements as a solo player and as leading drummer of the Grade 1 corps, he has had invitations from all over the World for teaching workshops and seminars. He is currently the Principal Drumming Instructor at The Strathallan School and The Glenalmond College, both in Perthshire.
Gordon and his dad Tom have their own Drumming Supplies business where they have their own T.G. Drumming branded product line. They also published their Debut Book, titled, “Something Old Something New” in 2001, with more planned publications in the pipe-line (or drum-line to be more accurate!!)
Gordon is also involved with Andante on product development of their highly successful Reactor Snare Drum.

Steven McWhirter

We welcome Steven to his first Todds Bar Recital as the current World Solo Drumming Champion. 

Born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, in 1983, Steven McWhirter now lives in Ahoghill and usually in recent years, spendt his summers in Vancouver as a member of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, which he has played with for the past six years. Steven has now swapped this with the beauty of Argyllshire where he is now lead tip with the Inveraray and Disttrict Pipe Band.  Before SFU, he played with the Grade 2 Cullybackey Pipe Band and the Grade 3 Warrnambool & District Pipe Band of Australia, where he instructed during an Australian summer. Originally taught drumming by his father, other mentors include Adrian Hoy; former World Solo Champion Bobby Rea; and J. Reid Maxwell, SFU leading-drummer.

McWhirter started drumming at age 10. With his first band, Cullybackey, he played the tenor-drum before moving to the snare-line. The band won the Grade 2 drumming title at the 2001 World's, and in 2002 McWhirter accepted an invitation from Maxwell to join SFU.

His success at the 2006 World Solos was preceded by winning Under-15 World Solo titles in 1997 and 1998, the All-Ireland and Ulster Junior Solos in 2002, the All-Ireland and the Ulster Intermediate solos in 2004. Especially since his October 2006 win, Steven McWhirter has been in demand for workshops and schools in Canada, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Scotland and Ireland.