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Performances in New York and New Jersey
The Pipes of Christmas, the Clan Currie Society’s popular Celtic Christmas concert returns to New York and New Jersey this December. Two performances are scheduled for 2PM and 8PM on Saturday, December 15 at Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, NJ. The “Pipes” will also return to New York City at 3PM on Sunday, December 16 at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church. The New York performance is a benefit concert to support the Society’s scholarship program. Currie continued, “We are equally excited about adding a second concert in New Jersey this year. Last year’s Summit concert sold out in a record four weeks, by Halloween we regrettably had to turn away many of our loyal following. By adding a second concert in New Jersey, we hope to be able to accommodate our growing number of annual concert-goers.” The program will feature the music of Christmas accompanied by a selection of readings taken from the Celtic literature of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales, as well as Scripture. Featured performers include Metropolitan Opera star Mark Delavan, the Scottish Country Dance trio Local Hero, the Solid Brass ensemble, Scottish harpist Jennifer Port, and the Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Pipe Band of Redlands, CA.
Proceeds from the 2006 concerts were instrumental in founding the Alex Currie Memorial Scholarship for Bagpipe. Piper Neil MacInnis of Mabou, Nova Scotia was the recipient of the first annual bursary named in honor of one of the celebrated Cape Breton piper. Order Tickets Now
Clan Currie has also announced the date for their seventh annual Burns Supper. The dinner dance, commemorating the life and contributions of Scotland’s immortal bard, will be held on Saturday, January 26, 2008 at the Grand Summit Hotel. For further information on these events, contact the Society at (908) 273-3509 or via e-mail at clancurrie@mail.com.
About “The Pipes of Christmas” Since making its debut in 1999, The Pipes of Christmas has played to standing room only audiences. Given the popularity of the program, a second concert was added in 2001 to accommodate the high-demand for tickets. That same year, Clan Currie began an award-winning partnership with TV-36, Communities On Cable, by broadcasting concert highlights on Christmas Eve to an estimated 40,000 cable subscribers. Three of the Society’s productions were recipients of the prestigious Telly Award for television production excellence. In 2003, the concert was broadcast live on TV-36 as a fundraiser for the community access station. Now a cherished holiday institution, the concert has provided audiences with a stirring and reverent celebration of the Christmas season and the Celtic spirit. Audience-goers return year after year to experience the program, many reporting that the Pipes of Christmas has become part of their family’s annual Christmas tradition. Over the last eight years, the concert has received great critical acclaim. In his review for Classical New Jersey Magazine, Paul Somers wrote, “The whole evening was constructed to introduce gem after gem and still have a finale which raised the roof. In short, it was like a well constructed fireworks show on the Glorious Fourth. The Westfield (NJ) Leader described the concert as “a unique sound of power and glory nowhere else to be found.” Willa Conrad, Classical Music Editor for The Star Ledger described the concert as a “majestic seasonal experience.”
About The Clan Currie Society The Clan Currie Society is an international, non-profit – 501(c) 3 - cultural and educational organization, active in preserving and promoting highland heritage at Scottish Games, ethnic festivals, as well as community groups and classrooms. The Society has over 3,000 members worldwide. The organization started as a family name society in Glasgow, Scotland in 1959 to further the knowledge and appreciation of the MacMhuirich (pronounced MacVurich) bardic dynasty. The MacMhuirichs served for over 700 years as professional poets to the Lords of the Isles and later to the MacDonalds of Clanranald. The Red Book of Clanranald, one of Gaelic Scotland’s literary treasures, was penned by successive generations of the MacMhuirich family. In more contemporary times, MacMhuirich poetry and short stories have been chronicled in Alexander Carmichael’s Carmina Gadelica, Angus MacLellan’s Stories of South Uist, Thomas Owen Clancy’s The Triumph Tree (Scotland’s Earliest Poetry 550-1350) and the recently-released An Laebhar Mor – The Great Book of Gaelic. The ancient and historic MacMhuirich name and its anglicized equivalent Currie can be found throughout the Western Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Today, the Clan Currie Society is a leading American-based foundation that focuses on celebrating the Scots-Gaelic origins of the Currie name as well as producing programs and events to honor Scotland’s rich culture and ancestry. The Society is a leading participant in New York Tartan Week activities and created and hosts the annual Tartan Day observance at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum. The Society produces a number of highly successful concerts featuring Scottish music. Principal programs include “The Pipes of Christmas” Celtic concert and their annual Burns Night dinner dance. The Society is also a leading sponsor of the popular “Dressed to Kilt” Tartan Week fashion fundraiser for Sir Sean Connery’s Friends of Scotland charity. The Society currently sponsors the Harp Competitions at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games and the Richmond Highland Games and Celtic Festival and is now preparing to award several scholarships for students wishing to further their studies in music, poetry, and dance. Clan Currie is also venturing into the field of documentary filmmaking and traveling exhibitions with a concentration on Scottish history and the arts. Their first film, “The Crafter’s Song,” explores Tartan Day in America and is narrated by Academy Award® winning actor Cliff Robertson. The traveling exhibition, “The Life and Legacy of John Muir,” debuted at the Ellis Island Immigration Museum in 2005. The Society has been recognized as the Honored Clan at a number of Highland Games and gatherings, including the Brodick Games on the Isle of Arran, the Blairgowrie Highland Games in Perthshire, and the Clanjamfry Scottish Festival in Memphis, Tennessee. Membership in the Society is free of charge by registering on their website at www.clancurrie.com. Society members have full access to the website and receive priority notification for all events.
Concert photos by Warren Westura
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