Winter School 2026

Angus MacColl, who hails from Benderloch, Scotland, comes from an illustrious piping family and is the great grandnephew of legendary piper and composer John MacColl. With years of piping still ahead, Angus’s contribution to the MacColl dynasty is certain t orival that of his forebears. Angus has won virtually every award in piping, including the Gold Medals at Oban and Inverness, 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.

Born in New Zealand and an emigrant to Scotland, Murray Henderson has won an amazing number of top awards. His accomplishments include prizes and Gold Medals at Oban and Inverness, six Clasps at Inverness, five Silver Chanters at Dunvegan Castle, London’s Bratach Gorm five times, the Former Winners MSR at London five times, and four-time Glenfiddich champion. In 2016 he was honored by being inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Hall of Fame. Senior adjudicator for the Solo Piper’s Judges Association for both Piobaireachd and light music, Murray has judged Internationally, and at all major events in Scotland. Spanning five decades, his competitive and mentoring record has made him one of the world’s most successful, and knowledgeable pipers.

Roddy MacLeod MBE, Glasgow, Scotland is considered to be one of the most accomplished pipers of his generation and a highly regarded teacher, recitalist and adjudicator. Uniquely, he is a Grade 1 Championship winning Pipe Major and a five time Glenfiddich World Solo Piping Champion and in 2012 he was inducted into the Scottish Traditional Music Awards Hall of Fame. Throughout his career as a piper Roddy has become renowned for his sound and is a dedicated ambassador of the instrument.

Fred Morrison was born and raised near Glasgow, but it’s the celebrated Gaelic piping tradition of his father’s native South Uist, in the outer Hebrides, that forms the bedrock of his intensely expressive, uniquely adventurous style. His outstanding technical prowess saw him winning many top competition prizes while still at school, meanwhile being inspired by pioneering acts like the Bothy Band and the Tannahill Weavers. Although his first-love instrument remains the great Highland bagpipes, over the years his mastery has expanded to encompass whistles, Scottish small pipes, or reel pipes – Morrison being a pivotal popularizer of this once-rare variety – and Irish uilleann pipes. He was also one of the first Scottish artists to forge dynamic links with his Celtic cousins in Brittany and north-west Spain, adding further to his repertoire of influences and tunes, and has long been renowned as an outstanding tune composer.

Ross is a founding member of Gaelic supergroup, Daimh, based in the Scottish Highlands. Beyond Daimh’s busy schedule, Ross has chalked up recording and touring credits with artists such as Julie Fowlis, Bonnie Prince Billy, Muireann Nic Aomhlaoibh, Karan Casey, Finlay MacDonald and the inimitable Vallely brothers from Armagh. Time at home is spent heavily involved in teaching the joys of traditional Scottish music to young people in the area through the Feisean movement and volunteering with the local Coastguard Search and Rescue team.

Jenna is from Lakewood, New York and is a graduate of Berklee College of Music. While studying, she was selected to receive the Fletcher Bright Award & and The American Roots Music Award – two honors given annually to one outstanding string player. She performs in a duo with Scottish harpist, Mairi Chaimbeul, Seamus Egan Project, & the Hanneke Cassel Band, and has performed with The Milk Carton Kids, Laura Cortese & The Dance Cards Darol Anger & The Furies, Old Blind Dogs and as a soloist at Symphony Hall with the Boston Pops. In addition to a busy touring schedule, Jenna teaches at music camps & courses throughout the year and is Assistant Professor in the String Department at Berklee College of Music.

Alasdair White is an exceptional exponent of west coast Scottish music and is widely regarded as one of the foremost Scottish fiddler players of his generation. He was born and brought up on the Isle of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, a chain of islands of singular importance to Gaelic Scotland’s musical heritage and is perhaps best known as having been a member of Scotland’s seminal Battlefield Band for over 16 years, touring extensively in that time throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Now resident in New York, Alasdair has performed and recorded as a guest with many of the best-known names in Scottish, Irish and Breton traditional music including Kathleen MacInnis, Julie Fowlis, Eddie Reader, Allan MacDonald, Manus Lunny, Nuala Kennedy, and Arnaud Ciapolino. Current ongoing projects include Daimh, the Alan Kelly Gang and of course, Battlefield Band. Alasdair also recently premiered a major commission at the Hebridean Celtic festival in Stornoway, an hour-long original piece entitled An Iuchair.

Finlay MacDonald has blazed a trail as one of Scotland’s finest exponents of contemporary and traditional Piping. He has worked with many leading artists in the traditional music scene including Fred Morrison, The Unusual Suspects, La Banda Europa, Old Blind Dogs and Chris Stout. As a soloist, he has collaborated with many world famous ensembles including the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, The Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and the RTE Philharmonic. In the Pop and Rock world there have been unique performances with such diverse artistes such as Bryan Adams, Biffy Clyro and the rap artist P.Diddy. Always driven by collaboration and innovation, Finlay’s passion for the music he has grown up with has led him to the post of “Head of Piping Studies” at the National Piping Centre and the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland where he continues to inspire and develop the very best of new Piping talent.

Callum Beaumont currently resides in Guardbridge, Scotland. Callum is a bagpipe instructor at Dollar Academy. In a professional capacity he is a much sought after and highly rated instructor prominent around the world. With regard to band history, at twelve years of age Callum joined the Grade 1 Lothian & Borders Police, moving on to Shotts & Dykehead, Simon Fraser University and Inveraray & District, winning four World Championship titles. In 2018 and 2022, as Pipe Major of Dollar Academy Novice A, he led the band to all five major titles, including being named World Champions. Callum has now progressed on to winning many of the most prestigious titles in world piping including five Clasps, two Gold Medals, The Silver Chanter, The Silver Star and winning The Overall Title at The Glenfiddich Piping Championship in 2023 and 2024.

Piper and Drummer Magazine has referred to Bruce Gandy as “one of the world’s best all-around players.” His prizes include top awards and Gold Medals from both Oban and Inverness, the Bratach Gorm and, on eight occasions, New York’s Metro Cup. Bruce is also a noted composer and in high demand as an instructor. Bruce’s learning program called Essential Piobaireachd Foundations won product of the year in the annual Pipes|Drums awards. He was raised in Victoria, British Columbia, and resides in Halifax, Nova Scotia, where he teaches piping at the Citadel.

Stuart Liddell, from Inveraray, Scotland, is one of the world’s most exciting pipers and is noted for his excellent solo performances and recordings. For seven years he was a member of the Scottish Power Pipe Band, thereafter joining the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band from Vancouver, Canada. He is the founder and Pipe Major of the Inveraray and District Pipe Band who are the current World Pipe Band Champions, having previously won it in 2017 and 2019. He has also won the World Pipe Band Championship three times with the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, has won three Clasps at Inverness, the Senior Piobaireachd at Oban five times, and is a three-time Glenfiddich Piping Champion.

Willie is a native of Campbeltown in Kintyre, and from a famous piping family who can trace back their piping to John McAlister who won the Prize Pipe in 1782, the 2nd recorded piping competition. He has won the Glenfiddich Championship a record 9 times and his other prizes won include both Gold Medals, 9 P/M Donald MacLeod Memorials, 5 Former Winners MSRs at Oban and 4 at Inverness, 4 Bratach Gorms, 3 Silver Chanters, and 3 Senior Piobaireachds at Oban. He is Lead Tutor on the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland B.Mus.Trad Programme, delivered by the National Piping Centre. He also runs a busy business comprising private teaching and being a consultant to McCallum Bagpipes and Bannatyne Pipe Bags and Moisture Control. Many of his students are champion pipers in their own right.

For more than three decades, Jack Lee has been regarded as one of the world’s leading pipers. His accomplishments as a solo piper, pipe band leader, and teacher cause him to be much sought after as a performer, lecturer, and teacher throughout the world. For nearly forty years, Pipe-Sergeant Jack Lee has been ranked among the world’s most accomplished pipers. He has won all the top solo prizes available: The Glenfiddich Championship, Gold Medals at both Oban and Inverness, the Clasp at Inverness (2), the Silver Star at Inverness (4), the Bratach Gorm at London (3) the Open Piobaireachd at Oban (2), the Silver Star at Oban and the Masters Invitational (2). Jack teaches many piping schools and workshops each year as well as numerous private students around the world via Skype.In October 2017, Jack won the coveted Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championship in Blair Atholl, Scotland, considered the top prize in piping. Jack is also the pipe sergeant and co-founder of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, which has been a consistent prize-winner at the World Championships in the past 20 years.

Blair Brown began drumming in 1992 under the instruction of Doug Stronach. He has been a member of some of the world's most decorated pipe bands, including: Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia, Simon Fraser University, and the 78th Fraser Highlanders. During his time in Shotts, the band won three World Pipe Band Championships, and four World Drum Corps Championships. Blair was a member of the SFU corps that won “The Sash” (World Drum Corps Title) at the 2023 Worlds. Blair is one of the top solo drummers in the world. He is a consistent prize winner at the World Solo Drumming Championships and has won the Gold Medal at the prestigious Winter Storm event in Kansas City a record six times. A sought after educator, Blair regularly conducts workshops and teaches at piping and drumming schools worldwide. He is a certified judge with the PPBSO and BCPA. He is currently based in Vancouver, BC.

Tyler Fry is the recognized world leader in the art of pipe band tenor drumming. By the age of 15, he had won every major professional solo tenor drumming event in North America, including the Canadian, United States, and North American Championships. Tyler is a three-time winner of the Grade 1 World Bass Drum Section Championship with the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band of Toronto, as well as countless Scottish, British, European, and World band and drum corps titles with Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band under the leadership of the legendary Drum Major Jim Kilpatrick MBE. Tyler travels extensively conducting masterclasses and seminars, and regularly tours with the Red Hot Chili Pipers.

Ali started tenor drumming with the Northwest Junior Pipe Band, based outside Seattle, Washington, in 2007. She joined the Robert Malcolm Memorial grade 3 in 2010, and was with them in 2012 when they won the World Pipe Band Championships, promoting to Grade 2. Ali transitioned full time to bass drumming during the 2017 season with the grade 2 band. In the spring of 2022 she became the understudy to the SFU bass drummer. She made her debut with the band when she stepped in to play all four Worlds circles that summer; helping the drum corps win The Sash. Ali teaches tenor and bass with the Northwest Junior Pipe Band, and runs the midsection program with the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band. She is the lead nurse of the Internal Medicine Department at a specialty and emergency veterinary hospital in Washington.

Kerr McQuillan is the Leading Drummer for the Peoples Ford Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia Pipe Band. Kerr took over in 2022, and in his few seasons, led the drum corps to win the UK Pipe Band Championships in 2023, the World Pipe Band Championships in 2023, the British Pipe Band Championships in 2024 and also winning the drum corps’ first drumming title in over 10 years – taking 1st place as a drum corps at the European Pipe Band Championships in 2024. Having grown up within the Boghall system, Kerr was taught by Tom Brown MBE, Gordon Brown and Stephen McQuillan. In 2023, in his first attempt, Kerr became the youngest on record to win the adult World Solo Drumming Championships, having previously won 7 juvenile world titles in both tenor and snare drum from 2012 until 2022. Kerr holds the current record for World Solo tenor successes, even winning both the tenor and snare competition on the same day in 2016. Since his appointment as leading drummer, Kerr has accumulated the titles of 2023 and 2024 Scottish Champion, 2024 European Champion, 2024 Intercontinental Champion, to name a few. These successes, alongside his World Solo win, led to Kerr being named Pipes|Drums Drummer of the Year in 2023. Kerr is a member of Drums n’ Roses, which has taken him all over the world to perform in some of the most renowned venues, such as Sony Music Hall and Times Square.

Jenn Butterworth is one of the most notable folk guitarists in the UK acoustic music scene. In recent years she was awarded ‘Musician of the Year’ from the Scots Trad Music Awards, and was nominated for the same title in the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards. An excellent collaborator, she works with a range of high profile folk music projects, including Ross Ainslie and Ali Hutton’s SYMBIOSIS, award winning folk powerhouses Kinnaris Quintet, Treacherous Orchestra and Fiddlers’ Bid, supergroup ‘Songs of Separation’ involving an array of prominent folk artists including Eliza Carthy, Lady Maisery and Karine Polwart. The Songs of Separation album, conceived, arranged and recorded in just 7 days, won the title of ‘Best Album’ at the Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2017. She is also well known for her duo work, and regularly performs with Kinnaris Quintet rhythm section partner Laura-Beth Salter, and virtuosic harmonica player Will Pound.

David is known as a Cape Breton fiddle-whisperer, for his in-depth teaching of that elusive style. He co-authored The DunGreen Collection (1996), an influential treatise on Cape Breton fiddling. He is also a composer and arranger. Many of his tunes have been recorded by Cape Breton musicians such as Buddy MacMaster, Carl MacKenzie, Jerry Holland, and The Rankins. David is also a Baroque violinist. His fluency in these two genres make him uniquely qualified to interpret the wild music of 18th-century Scotland. He has recorded over 80 CDs with many collaborators including Chris Norman, Suzie LeBlanc, Doug MacPhee, and numerous ensembles, as well as three groundbreaking Scottish-Cape Breton-Baroque recordings with his own ensemble Puirt A Baroque in the 1990s. David offers a monthly online Cape Breton teaching workshop called the Hobbit House Session as well as intensive online courses.

Called “one of the brightest fiddlers around today” (Brian O’Donovan, WGBH radio’s A Celtic Sojourn), multistyle violinist and champion fiddler Mari Black delights audiences around the world with her energetic playing, sparkling stage presence, and dazzlingly virtuosic fiddling. Mari's dynamic performances are infused with her sense playfulness and deep love of the history behind the music, as she weaves together driving dance tunes with beloved stories that bring the music to life. Raised on a rich blend of traditional musical styles, Mari burst onto the international stage when she became Scotland’s Glenfiddich Fiddle Champion, 2-time U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Champion, and 2-time Canadian Maritime Fiddle Champion, all within a three-year period. Ever since, she has been spreading her love for dance-based music, performing as a featured artist at performing arts centers, Celtic festivals, Scottish Highland Games, celebrated folk venues.