Edinburgh piper and Fettes College piping instructor Alasdair Henderson has been crowned Overall Champion at the 2026 Glenfiddich Piping Championship, held at Blair Castle in Blair Atholl on Saturday 31 October.
Alasdair, who lives in Edinburgh, teaches piping at Fettes College and previously taught at George Heriot’s School. He is also Pipe Sergeant of Inveraray & District Pipe Band, which he joined in 2010, taking up his current role in 2014.
The Glenfiddich is widely regarded as the most prestigious competition in solo piping and known as the world solo piping championships. Only ten of the world’s finest pipers receive an invitation, having qualified through major competition successes during the year. Alasdair secured his place by winning the Piping Live! Masters Solo Competition in August.
Alasdair won the Piobaireachd and placed third in the March, Strathspey and Reel to take the overall title for the first time. Stuart Liddell was second overall and fellow Edinburgh piper Iain Speirs third.
Alasdair said: “Receiving the award on Saturday was the best day of my piping life! I’ve worked an entire lifetime towards this and it feels fairly surreal at the moment.
“I was very happy with the way I played on Saturday and thought I put two really good runs together. I feel honoured to receive this prestigious title and trophy.”
Originally from Dunoon, Alasdair learnt the pipes from his uncle, P/M Jim Henderson. His family’s piping connections include P/M John McLellan DCM of Dunoon, the composer of Lochanside and The Road to the Isles, who also taught Jim as a boy.
Julie Fowlisand a stage packed with some of the finest musicians in folk, brought this year’s Edinburgh Tradfest to a close on Monday 13 May with an outstanding rendition of Runrig’s ‘Fuaim A Bhlair’.
The 11 day festival of traditional live music, talks, folk film and storytelling, saw over 80% of tickets sold for the music programme and multiple sell-out shows at the Traverse Theatre, Cameo and the Scottish Storytelling Centre.
The festival enjoyed a massive jump in trad fans coming out in support of live music, with sell-out shows and packed houses on both weekends (Triptic, Martin Simpson Daimh, Rachel Newton, Nordic Fiddlers Bloc, and VALTOS).
There was also a full audience for this year’s new commission Everyone’s Welcome to Edinburghcurated by renowned fiddler Robbie Greig and performed by Robbie and a stellar line-up of musicians including Hannah Rarity, Jenn Butterworth, Signy Jakobsdottir, Duncan Lyall and Megan MacDonald. Plus, there was not a seat to be had for Malin Lewis’ debut album launchHalocline.
The second weekend’s workshops also saw great attendance and 92% of places sold, with Bruce Ncube’s Zimbabwean singing workshop bringing home an abundance of joy-felt harmonies from an amazing standard of participants.
, over at the Scottish Storytelling Centre, Svend-Erik Engh’s improve your patter session for musicians was an early sell out, as was Shona Cowie and Neil Sutcliffe’s premiere of their new show Rickle O Stanes which galloped through the story of Scotland, from its geological formation right up to its present socio-economic condition told through stories and song.
Another big hit at the Scottish Storytelling Centre was an emotional Hearth Fire Session which saw an incredible blend of live storytelling from Traveller Jess Smith, folk musician Sam Gillespie and basket-weaver Katie Warner, all guided by host Dougie Mackay who gifted Jess with a willow basket full of the stories and songs of the evening, to acknowledge her contribution to storytelling.
Further afield the Folk Film Gathering celebrated its 10th anniversary with a popular programme of Scottish and international films, many accompanied by live scores or introductory talks. Screen premieres included the sold out Scottish premiere of Songlines – a new documentary from Pat Collins celebrating the songs and singers at the heart of the Irish traveller community; and Itu Ninu set in a dystopian ‘smart city’ from Edinburgh-based Mexican director Itandehui Jansen.
Plus, to close this year’s folk film gathering, musician Aly Bain introduced a screening of Mike Alexander’s film Down Home with some great chat and tremendous tunes.
Douglas Robertson and Jane-Ann Purdy, co-producers of Edinburgh Tradfest said: “This year’s festival was just brilliant, we took a chance and top and tailed the music programme with two big gigs at the Queen’s Hall and the Assembly Rooms and it really paid off, with audiences returning again and again to hear more great music and support the musicians.
“The buzz around the venues was fantastic and our thanks goes to everyone who has supported us in making the festival possible. Next year we are back 2-12 May – and we can’t wait!”
Jamie Chambers producer of the Folk Film Gathering said: “2024 was a banner year for us. It was great to be back in synch with our friends at Tradfest and to be working again with Cameo Picturehouse.
“Programme highlights for us included the combined voices of Jess Smith and Joss Cameron at the Scottish premiere of Pat Collin’s SONGLINES, celebrating the links between Scottish and Irish traveller culture; the sublime, emotionally overwhelming new score composed by Luke Sutherland and Semay Wu for Alexander Dovzhenko’s EARTH; the chance to host Finnish master musicians Lau Nau and Pekko Kappi, for the premiere of Katja Gauriloff’s moving JE’VIDA; and the powerful words of Palestinian-Scottish poet Nada Shawa at our screening of Michel Khleifi TALE OF THE THREE JEWELS.”
Daniel Abercrombie, Head of Programming, Scottish Storytelling Centre, said: “Tradfest continues to enhance our programme, it is a wonderful time of year!
“We were especially delighted that so many families and young people were involved in our song and story sessions, as well as joining together to celebrate the traditions of Beltane as May arrives. Looking forward to next year already!”
Edinburgh Tradfest is supported by The National Lottery through Creative Scotland and the William Grant Foundation.
Edinburgh Tradfest will return from 2 to 12 May 2025.
