Allan MacDonald
A leading figure in the Gaelic musical scene, Allan MacDonald is in demand internationally as a composer, musical director, piper, singer, workshop leader, and lecturer on Gaelic music.
One of his myriad gifts is to make pibroch accessible and lovable. His work as a scholar-performer reuniting seventeenth-century piping with its Gaelic roots is influencing a whole generation of pipers.
Allan has performed at many of the major Celtic and piping festivals around the world. He lectured on the Scottish Music course at the RSAMD, (renamed the Scottish Conservatoire of Music) from its inception in 1995 until the end of 2013 to be free-lance for 2014 when he received a commission to write ‘The Bruce700’ He had previously been musical director for BBC television series eg. An Ataireachd Bhuan (1992), Éideadh nan Guth (1994) the first Gaelic Hogmanay show in1994-95, ‘Seudan a’Chuain’ (GrampianTV 1996) BBC eightpart series ‘Na h-Eilthirich’ (1998) as well as other commissions.
In 1999, Allan directed a pioneering series of piping concerts for the Edinburgh International Festival (EIF) and in 2000 he was music director for ‘The Well’ a ten-show series sponsored by River Dance in Dublin.
In 2004 his EIF concert series ‘From Battle Lines to Bar Lines’ won the ‘Herald Angel Award’ voted by journalists. In 2005, he co-directed six-part television series ‘The Highland Sessions’, which was screened on RTE, BBC3 and ITV and won the best documentary music award in Ireland.
In January 2007, The BBC made a documentary on Allan and his brothers, Dr Angus and Iain (also famed pipers). The three brothers were born in the tiny Gaelic-speaking township of Glenuig in Moidart.
Allan won one of the highest awards in piping, the Clasp at the Northern Meeting, two years running (1989 and 1990) and then followed a style of playing that was closer to his own Gaelic heritage.
Allan played an important role in the development of Deiseil: Dancing in Time and performs in the show.
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