This year’s Pipes of Christmas concerts will take place in New York, Dec. 17, and Summit, Dec. 18.
This year’s 24th edition of the annual Pipes of Christmas concert — featuring holiday music with traditional Celtic instrumentation, and readings — will take place Dec. 18 at 2 and 7 p.m. at Central Presbyterian Church in Summit, as well as Dec. 17 at 2 and 7 p.m. at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in Manhattan. Tickets are not available yet, but those who contribute $100 or more to a GoFundMe campaign in support of the concerts can secure early access to them. Visit gofundme.com/f/the-24th-annual-pipes-of-christmas.
Donors at that level will also receive downloads of an EP of seven tracks from the previous two years’ Pipes of Christmas concerts, including two songs recorded in Scotland for 2020’s virtual show: Tenor Jamie McDougall’s “O Holy Night,” recorded at Glasgow Cathedral; and Christine Primrose’s “Lenabh an àigh,” or “Child of Joy,” recorded on the Isle of Skye.
Other tracks, recorded at last year’s shows in New Jersey and New York, will include holiday material by the Blandford Pipe Band of Redlands, Calif. and harpist Rachel Clemente, and a set of traditional music arranged by guitarist Steve Gibb.
According to a press release, the GoFundMe campaign “offsets the annual concert’s extensive production costs and will ensure the event continues to take place after two years of financial losses due to COVID.”
In a review of the 2017 Summit show for NJArts.net, David Gerald Palladino-Sinclair wrote, “Tapping into our most primal human emotions of heritage and family, and through their use of ancient instruments and classic seasonal texts, the Pipes of Christmas concert … offered a majestic and powerful but intimate concert experience.”
The concerts, he wrote, never fail “to amaze audiences with unique artistic combinations that seem to affect everyone in attendance most profoundly.”
Proceeds from the concerts support cultural programs in New Jersey, Scotland and elsewhere.
For more information, visit pipesofchristmas.com.
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