The 28th edition of the annual William Kennedy Piping Festival will take place in Armagh City over the weekend of 17-20 November 2022. After the uncertainty of recent years, the festival is delighted to present a full programme of concerts, sessions, workshops, and lectures right across the city, and looks forward to welcoming visitors and friends – new and old – to the ecclesiastical capital once again.
Programme highlights include an exciting new project entitled ‘inB’, which features Scottish pipers Brìghde Chaimbeul and Fin Moore along with uilleann pipers Louise Mulcahy and Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn, all playing pipes pitched in ‘B’. Former Moving Hearts and Riverdance piper Declan Masterson will make his first visit to the festival, while Armagh Pipers Club alumni Jarlath Henderson and Cillian Vallely make welcome visits home – the latter performing a specially commissioned new body of work along with the world-famous Fidelio Trio.
The international dimension of the festival is further enhanced by 14-piece Portuguese band Orquestra de Foles, the Lampetròn Trio from Northern Italy, Anxo Lorenzo from Galicia in north-west Spain, Joey Abarta from the USA, and Scottish pipers Rory Campbell and Alana MacInnes.
Other acts confirmed include the Dunne family – Mickey, Niamh and Bríd – from county Limerick; Paddi Benson, Grace Lemon and James Patrick Gavin from London; Aaron O’Hagan and Luke Ward from Belfast; and local highland piper Brendan Murphy.
The annual William Kennedy Lecture will be delivered by acclaimed piper/cellist/composer Neil Martin, on the topic of the "Uilleann Pipes in a Western Art-Music Tradition".
The festival also presents the Mark Donnelly Piping Academy, retitled to remember the great piper – one of Armagh Pipers Club’s first students and subsequently principal piping tutor until his untimely death in 1999. The academy is an immersive uilleann piping course with tuition from leading players, as well as instrument maintenance classes, lectures and discussions. Further information and booking from wkpf.org.
The William Kennedy Piping Festival is organised by Armagh Pipers Club with funding assistance from Armagh City, Banbridge and Craigavon Borough Council, and the Arts Council of Northern Ireland.
Press Release on behalf of Na Píobairí Uilleann | Wednesday 28th September 2022
Na Píobairí Uilleann [The Society of Irish Pipers] welcomes the announcement that the government has agreed to provide income tax relief for uilleann pipe makers and harp makers, to apply to proceeds from the sale of the instruments in Budget 2023.
The fundamental aims of Na Píobairí Uilleann are to support the playing and making of uilleann pipes. We wish to acknowledge the ongoing work of the Irish Government and both Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and the Media, Catherine Martin and Minister for Finance, Pascal Donohoe, in their support for the highly skilled crafts practiced by instrument makers in Ireland.
Na Píobairí Uilleann is directly involved in the training and development of uilleann pipe and Irish harp makers through courses delivered at our instrument making training facility, PipeCraft. A range of training, including third-level courses in pipe making and harp making are offered at PipeCraft in conjunction with Ballyfermot College of Further Education.
2021 Annual Report | 2022-2024 Organisational Strategy “Sharing the Sound of Ireland”
Na Píobairí Uilleann (NPU), the Society of Uilleann Pipers was founded in 1968 when there were less than 100 uilleann pipers remaining. Today NPU is a thriving arts organisation dedicated to Sharing the Sound of Ireland through Access, Education, Performance and Preservation. Since unveiling its restored Georgian premises at 15 Henrietta Street, Dublin, in January 2007, NPU has been busy catering for the expanding demand for regular tuition, as well as releasing many significant publications and recordings. With demand for pipes considerably exceeding supply, a dedicated Training Centre – PipeCraft – was established in 2011 to deliver training in the very highly skilled craft of uilleann pipemaking.
NPU is accredited by UNESCO as a competent Non-governmental Organisation in the field of Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH). NPU lobbied the Irish Government to ratify the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage which resulted in the inclusion of Uilleann Piping on the UNESCO representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in December 2017. In 2021, NPU achieved the Diversity Bronze Award from the Irish Centre for Diversity. Na Píobairí Uilleann’s primary funding agencies include The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, and Dublin City Council.
Photo Credits:
(1)-(3) William Kennedy Piping Festival,
(4) Tiarnán Ó Duinnchinn,
(5) Brìghde Chaimbeul,
(6) Cillian Vallely,
(7) Jarlath Henderson,
(8) Anxo Lorenzo,
(9) Na Píobairí Uillean
(unknown/website).
