The Clan Donald Trust for the Gaelic Performing Arts and
The Robert Burns Society of Charleston
Present
The 2023 Scottish Performing Arts Classic (SPAC)
The ancient MacDonald Lords of the Isles saw it as their responsibility to support, encourage, and develop the Gaelic culture in all its forms. The Lords of the Isles built churches, supported monasteries, were patrons of dancing, clarsach playing, poetry and, of course, piping. For more than thirty years, the The Clan Donald Trust for the Gaelic Performing Arts (CDT), in the name of great Clan Donald, has been honored to carry on this important responsibility.
The Robert Burns Society of Charleston is pleased to partner with CDT to bring to Charleston three of these important Scottish Performing Arts competitions: The Princess Margaret of the Isles Memorial Prize for Senior Clarsach (Harp), The Dan R MacDonald Memorial Prize for Senior Fiddle and The Joseph MacDonald Memorial Prize for Piobaireachd (Scottish bagpipe). These three important competitions were conducted on April 15th, 2023, with the support and cooperation of the Saint James Anglican Church, at 1101 Camp Road, James Island, South Carolina.
2023 Finalists
Clarsach (Celtic Harp)
Rhiannon Ramsey-Brimberg
Rhiannon Ramsey-Brimberg, known professionally as Rhiannon Skye, is a Connecticut-based lever harpist, composer, performer, and educator. Although her heart lies in Scottish, Cape Breton, and Irish traditional music, her repertoire also includes classical, pop, jazz, and other styles. Having only begun learning the harp in high school, it was not until she was in her final year that her calling as a harpist became clear. She attended Berklee College of Music, earning a BA in Performance in 2020. Currently, she is working towards a Masters in Irish Music Studies at the University of Limerick. Through these institutions, she played with ensembles from a variety of styles, including Celtic, Middle Eastern, and bluegrass.
Within three years of playing the harp, she advanced from a novice to a master harpist, competing in numerous Scottish harp competitions. In 2015, she placed second at the US National Scottish Harp Championship. In 2021, Rhiannon won the Iain Macleòid Young Composer Award through The Clarsach Society, and debuted her piece, ‘Asrai, The Coin, The Hound’s March, and Waterfall Jig’, last April at the 2022 Edinburgh International Harp Festival.
In addition to performing in New England, New York, Spain and Ireland, she had the honor of playing for the Irish Ambassador to the UK on St. Patrick’s Day through Zoom in 2021. Rhiannon is extremely honored to have been asked to compete at The Princess Margaret of the Isles Memorial Prize for Senior Clarsach, and is looking forward to performing her arrangements and compositions.
Sarah Marie Mullen
Sarah Marie Mullen first fell in love with the harp at the age of five when a harpist visited her kindergarten class. It took six years, and the organization of a neighborhood-wide garage sale, for her to raise the money to buy her first nineteen-string lap harp. She began her studies on the Celtic harp with Diane Michaels, and later expanded her interests to include the concert harp, continuing her training at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music with renowned harpist Yolanda Kondonassis. Also, while at Oberlin College she pursued majors in both Biology and Anthropology. Since her graduation in 2002, Sarah has been touring nationwide, appearing as a soloist at a wide range of festivals and events.
In 2003, Sarah’s debut recording “Luna’s Fancy” was released by independent label Blind Dog Entertainment. Following the success of her first album, she has recorded two more albums with Blind Dog which have received critical praise, “The Wild Woods,” which focused on Celtic and Renaissance music, and “Harper's Bizarre” which features more modern material and original compositions. Sarah and her husband Cyrus later formed Lysander Music and released “We Brought the Summer With Us,” an exploration of the traditional music of Ireland from the 16th through the 18th centuries, and her holiday album “In the Moon of Wintertime.”
Sarah is married to fellow musician Cyrus Rua and together they have two daughters, two dogs, and a cat. They travel all over the country appearing at festivals and on the rare occasions that they are home, they reside in Bastrop, TX.
Tiffany Schaefer
Tiffany Schaefer has been playing and promoting Celtic music in Northeast Ohio and beyond for over fifteen years. Aided by a background in classical voice studies, and summers in the Ohio Scottish Arts School’s harp program, she performs regularly with several musical colleagues and is a founding member of the Cleveland Celtic Ensemble, a Celtic chamber music quartet. She also performs as a solo artist; recent accolades include winning the 2022 US National Scottish Harp Championship, and receiving the Scottish Harp Society of America Travel Scholarship to Scotland.
In addition to her work as a performer, Tiffany is also a passionate educator and advocate for adults learning the folk harp. She has taught private lessons and workshops for students of all levels, and has developed a reputation as a patient and knowledgeable teacher. An innovative presence online, she was among the first harp instructors to teach tunes to a wide international audience via YouTube. Today she has amassed a loyal following on her harp education membership site, the Mastering Celtic Music Club.
Tiffany is an active participant in the folk world, hosting a beginner-friendly session for all folk instruments, serving as Harp Chair of the Scottish American Cultural Society of Ohio, and as Editor in Chief of the Kilt & Harp, the newsletter of the Scottish Harp Society of America.
Tiffany makes her home in the Cleveland suburbs with hobby writer husband Jonathan. When not performing she enjoys the outdoors, being “professional aunt” to her niece and nephews, and playing in local Irish sessions.
Ava White
Ava began playing the Celtic harp at the age of 10, and has been involved in the Celtic music community ever since. Originally from the Burlington area in Vermont, her harp and ensemble career started with Young Tradition Vermont, most notably with its Touring Group program. As a member, Ava toured Scotland in 2018 and the New York Metropolitan area in 2019. During the pandemic, she served as the Touring Group’s co-youth artist leader. Ava is the recipient of the 2020 Young Artist Scholarship from Acadia Trad School and also won the open division of the Harp Competitions of the 2019 New Hampshire Highland Games. Ava currently studies at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts with a prospective double major in Government and French Studies."
Senior Fiddle
Sean Heely
Champion fiddler and singer Seán Heely is one of the most creatively versatile and captivating young artists of his generation. He is a U.S National Scottish Fiddle Champion as well as an award-winning Irish Fiddler, singer, and harpist in the folk and Gaelic traditions of Scotland and Ireland. Irish fiddle legend Liz Carroll calls Seán: “One powerhouse of a fiddler”. Seán holds a degree from University of South Carolina in Classical Violin Performance and was a 2019 Artist in Residence at Strathmore Music Center in Maryland.
He has performed in Scotland, Ireland, South America, Germany and at prestigious venues in the U.S such as the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C and Strathmore Music Center. Seán has shared the stage with traditional music icons such as Liz Carroll, Bonnie Rideout, Natalie Haas, Cathy Jordan, Eamon O’Leary, Chris Norman, Zan McLeod, and Maeve Gilchrist. Along with his accolades in Traditional Music, Seán made his Classical solo debut with the Virginia Symphony in 2012 performing Mozart's 5th Violin Concerto. A composer and arranger, Seán has won national awards including the 2016 Scottish Fiddling Revival’s Tune writing competition. Seán was a featured soloist with the Virginia International Tattoo in Norfolk, VA in April 2017, 2019, and 2021. Sean has recorded two full length albums: “Edge of the Bow” and “Homeport ~ Port na Dachaigh" and both have received international acclaim.
Currently based in Washington DC, Seán performs locally and abroad with the Seán Heely Celtic Band, The Glencoe Lads and Jennifer Cutting’s Ocean Orchestra. He is a musical ambassador for the British Embassy Scottish Affairs Office and the St. Andrew’s Society of Washington. He also frequently travels abroad as a solo artist, has been a speaker at events such as the Scottish North American Leadership Conference, and maintains a private teaching studio in Falls Church, VA.
Becca Longhenry
Becca Longhenry is a classically trained violinist who began playing Scottish fiddle in 2019, at the Jink & Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling. In 2021, she won the US National Scottish Fiddling Championship after placing first in the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games regional competition. At the 2022 US Nationals, she won an award for Best Air. Becca has performed with ensembles in South Dakota, Nebraska, Florida, Georgia, Arkansas, and Virginia.
She currently resides in Richmond, VA, where she teaches violin, viola, and piano, and performs in a variety of genres with local musical artists, including the rapper Radio B and the Norse folk band Wolvenwind. Becca is General Director for Classical Revolution RVA, a non-profit that seeks to keep classical music alive and relevant by bringing it out of the concert hall and into spaces where other types of music are usually performed. She holds a bachelor's degree in violin performance from the University of Nebraska Lincoln (2010) and a master's degree in violin performance from James Madison University (2015).
Colin McGlynn
Colin McGlynn is a 17 year old fiddle player and singer from Portsmouth, VA. Colin made it to the national competition level at age 9, before winning the Junior U.S National Scottish Fiddle Championship at age 14. He has performed on the main stage at various Scottish Highland games on the east coast, numerous events in the Virginia and DC-area, and in the Niel Gow festival in Scotland.
As part of the Scottish music duo, the Glencoe Lads, he has recorded and released a full-length CD, titled Homeport. Colin is student at the Governor’s School for the Arts, and he has been featured several times on East Coast LIVE news network. In his free time enjoys being outdoors and holds leadership positions with the Boy Scouts of America.
Karin McQuade
Karin McQuade is a fiddler and vocalist. She started learning violin at age 7 after being inspired by the fiddler in The Chicks. In Highschool she started performing with the Taylor Music group’s ensemble Na Fidlieri. She graduated from the College of Charleston with a BA in Music Theory and a minor in Psychology, and afterward started touring with bands, and began teaching music lessons full-time. She is now a Highschool guitar and orchestra teacher. She plays in 3 local bands: ContraForce, Tea & Whiskey, and Zephyr.
Piobaireachd (Scottish bagpipe)
Andrew Carlisle
Andrew Carlisle is a ten-time world champion bagpiper. Originally from Ballygowan, Northern Ireland, he joined the Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Music faculty in 2010. Andrew is in constant demand as a performer, instructor, and adjudicator throughout the world. He has performed in over twenty countries, across four continents; most notably at The White House in 2008, and in front of 50,000 people at the Oz Stadium in Sydney, Australia in 2010.
He is one of the world’s leading solo pipers and has won numerous prestigious awards. For twenty years, Andrew has been an active member of the world renowned Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, sharing in the success of over forty-five major championship wins, including ten World Pipe Band Championship wins. He has been featured as a soloist on the band’s ‘Re:Charged’ and ‘Impact’ albums.
Since 2012, Andrew has been the Artistic Director, Pipe Major and Senior Arranger for the annual Virginia International Tattoo; a production involving 900 performers held eight times each April in the 8,000 seat Scope Arena in Norfolk, Virginia. Andrew has been a fully qualified adjudicator for solo piping and pipe bands with the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association since 2010.
Andrew was the featured artist in a one hour television program recorded by the BBC in 2016 entitled ‘The Castle Session’ performing the Great Highland Bagpipe, Scottish Border Pipes, Scottish Smallpipes, low whistle and penny whistle. Since arriving in 2010, Andrew has transformed the Carnegie Mellon University Pipes and Drums into one of the leading pipe bands in the United States. In 2019 and 2022, the band were crowned American Pipe Band Champions at Norfolk, Virginia winning both the traditional March, Strathspey and Reel and contemporary Medley Selection categories.
Andrew Donlon
Andrew Donlon of Washington, D.C. began playing the bagpipes at nine years old under the tutelage of Chris Hamilton, and has been a student of Willie McCallum since 2012.
An active solo competitor, Andrew travels extensively throughout North America and Scotland. Some prizes of note include 3rd Place in the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering (2019), 4th Place in the Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting (2019), three consecutive second place finishes in the Silver Medals (Northern Meeting 2017 & 2018, Argyllshire Gathering 2018), and winning both the A Jig (2017) and B MSR (2019) at London.
As a bandsman, Andrew has been the Pipe Major of the Grade 2 MacMillan Pipe Band based in Washington, D.C. since 2015. He also serves as the executive director of the MacMillan organization, with competitive bands in Grades 2, 3, and 5. Andrew has also played with the NY Metro Pipe Band (2013-2015) and the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band (2016).
Outside of piping, Andrew is a staffer in the United States Congress and is pursuing his Juris Doctorate at the George Washington University Law School.
Ben McClamrock
Ben McClamrock was born and raised in Baltimore, Maryland, but now resides in Washington, DC where he works as a data analyst. Ben started piping at the age of nine. Growing up, Ben received tuition from pipers Roderick Alexander and Christopher Hamilton, as well as attending summer schools around the United States such as Invermark in Vermont. Ben quickly rose up the amateur competition rankings and became professional at the age of 17.
Ben now travels extensively to compete and is a consistent prize winner in the United States, Canada, and Scotland. Some of his top prizes include winning the Silver Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering, Oban (2019), 3rd Place in the A Marches (2017) and A Strathspey and Reel (2018) at Oban, top overseas piper at the Braemar Highland Gathering (2016), 3rd Place in the A MSR at Inverness (2013), winning the US Silver Medal at Winter Storm (2013), 2nd Place at the Canadian Gold Medal (2015), 2nd overall at the United States Piping Foundation (2017).
In addition to solo competitions, Ben has served as Pipe Sergeant to the City of Washington Pipe Band, formerly one of the top pipe bands in the United States and is the lead piping instructor to the Maryland Youth Pipe Band, formerly known as the Rockville High School Pipe Band. He currently receives piping instruction from William McCallum of Bearsden, Scotland.
Derek Midgley
Derek hails from Tinton Falls, New Jersey and began piping at the age of 12. His first tutor was George Bell, formerly of Parlin, NJ who was instrumental in Derek's rise through the amateur ranks in the US. After his passing, Derek is fortunate to receive instruction from Roddy Macleod, MBE.
Derek's notable solo prizes include the Silver Medal and B Marches at the Northern Meeting, and multiple prizes in the Highland Society of London's Gold Medal at both Oban and Inverness including a prize in 2022. He has won the A Grade MSR, Hornpipe/Jig, and Piobaireachd at the Scottish Piping Society of London Competition, the Dunvegan Medal and Open Marches at Skye, and the Lochaber Axe for Senior Piobaireachd at Fort William. In Canada, Derek was the third person ever to win the "Double Gold" Gold Medal and Bar to the Gold Medal of Canada on the same day. More recently in the USA, he has won the Metro Cup Piobaireachd, the United States Piping Foundation Piobaireachd three times, and the USPF Overall for the first time in 2022. Most recently, Derek won the light music at the Royal Highland Gathering at Braemar in September of 2022.
Derek also has many years of domestic and international Grade 1 Pipe Band experience, having played with the City of Washington Pipe Band, Toronto Police Pipe Band, and the Scottish Power Pipe Band.
Derek became a piping adjudicator for the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association in 2016 and a member of the EUSPBA Music Board in 2017. He is also the current Metro Branch Chairman. In 2020, Derek was elected President of the Competing Pipers Association in Glasgow, Scotland and works to coordinate solo professional piping in Scotland and abroad.
the judges for the 2023 Scottish Performing Arts Classic
For the Clarsach (Celtic Harp) Competition:
Kelly Brzozowski
Kelly Brzozowski holds a BMUS and a Masters Diploma in Harp Performance and Musicology from the University of North Wales.
She has taught and performed throughout Europe and the U.S. Kelly lives in Atlanta where she has maintained a large teaching studio for more than twenty years and performs classical, Celtic, and baroque music frequently with various ensembles and on various types of harps.
When she is not performing, teaching, or traveling, she is often found homeschooling, growing food, weaving, and spinning yarn.
For the Scottish Fiddle Competition:
Dr. John W. Turner
A Lifetime Member and Past President of Scottish FIRE, Dr. John W. Turner has been judging Scottish Fiddling Competitions throughout the U.S. and Canada since the 1970's.
A ten-time National Scottish Fiddling Champion, and winner of more than 100 fiddling competitions in the U.S., Canada and Scotland, he has promoted traditional Scottish fiddling as a performer, recording artist, composer, teacher, mentor, coach and event organizer for more than fifty years.
Dr. Turner's radio and television performances around the world include an appearance on TV Tokyo that had an estimated viewing audience of sixty million people. He is the Founder and Director of the Jink and Diddle School of Scottish Fiddling, now in its fortieth year.
As a composer, he has penned more than three thousand tunes in traditional Scottish style.
For the Piobaireachd (Scottish bagpipe) Competition:
Bob Worrall
Bob Worrall is one of North America’s leading teachers, adjudicators and performers. Bob is a respected composer, having published three successful collections of bagpipe music. He is featured on three solo piping recordings and was a member of the folk group “Scantily Plaid”.
After a piping career with a number of Ontario’s leading pipe bands, including the City of Toronto Pipe Band and the General Motors Pipe Band, Bob retired from competitive piping in 1983. His solo accomplishments were extensive, both in North America and Scotland. He won the North American Professional Championship an unprecedented 7 times and the Ontario Professional Championship Supreme title for 12 of his 13 years in the professional class. He was also the 1977 winner of the March and Strathspey/Reel events in Inverness. He was a pupil of Bill Millar, Willie Connell and the late John Wilson.
A member of North American and the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association’s judging panels, Bob has been selected to judge the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow on sixteen occasions. For the last fifteen years he has been the colour commentator for the BBC’s broadcast of the World Pipe Band Championships. He is a member of the Piobaireachd Society’s Senior Judges list and has adjudicated major competitions throughout the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Australia, Brittany and South Africa. Bob's recent overseas piping ventures have included teaching and performing engagements in Zimbabwe, Australia and Italy. His M.C. skills have been called upon by the Field Marshal Montgomery, Scottish Power, Inveraray and District, Toronto Police Pipe Bands, and most recently, the annual Winter Storm concert.
Bob was the senior instructor at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton for 15 years. He is the Director of Summer Blast, the PPBSO's virtual summer school.. Other recent piping camps have included Kingston (Ontario), the Ohio Scottish Arts School, Lake Diefenbaker (Saskatchewan), Washington State and Oregon, Vancouver Island, Uruguay, Australia and South Africa. Weekend workshops, adjudicating and recitals provide him with a schedule that has taken him to virtually all of the Canadian provinces and 36 U.S. States.
Kim Perkins- Scottish Performing Arts Classic Event Organizer/Celtic harp Convenor
Although Kim studied piano for many years, playing piano was never a passion; but upon her first exposure to the Celtic harp in 2011, she was immediately captivated and soon after purchased her own harp and began study and play, beginning a life long, joyous journey.
In 2015, Kim competed in The Rio Grande Valley Celtic Festival in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she was living at the time. Although she won the award for "Best Performance of the Day”, and was glad of the experience, Kim realized that competing was not for her, and is instead thrilled to be the organizer for the Scottish Performing Arts Classic and Princess Margaret of the Isles Clarsach Competition.
Kim feels a passionate connection to the traditional music of the Celtic World, and through regular performance and teaching privately, she strives to educate others in order to keep this unique and ancient music alive and heard.