New Staff members at The National Piping Centre
The National Piping Centre is delighted to announce that Wilson Brown and Dan Nevans have been appointed as piping teachers replacing David Wilton and Clare Lynas. Wilson Brown is a Gold Medallist and also played for many years in the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band under the leadership of Iain MacLellan. After taking a 20 year break from solo piping during which time Wilson developed his career in the police service – rising to the rank of Chief Inspector – he has made a return to the solo platform most recently competing in the Senior Piobaireachd and Clasp events at Oban and Inverness. Dan Nevans is a music graduate from the BA Applied Music at the University of Strathclyde and a member of the Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band having won the worlds with them in 2015. Dan is also developing his career in solo piping and gaining prizes on the circuit.
Stuart Samson has indicated his desire to retire as lead tutor of the BA traditional Music -Piping course which the Centre delivers in collaboration with the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland. Stuart is a highly respected figure and has been responsible for guiding many of our graduates to reach their potential in piping. We will miss his strong influence and wish him and his wife Wanda well in their new adventure.
We can confirm that Willie McCallum has been appointed as the successor to Stuart in this role and will start with us at the end of September. We needed to find someone with a tremendous profile in piping to take on where Stuart left off and Willie McCallum brings exactly that to the table. Willie is without doubt one of the most successful and highly respected figures in piping today and so we are sure that his input will be a positive force for the future success of the degree programme. Willie’s list of successes in solo piping are too numerous to mention in this short release but perhaps the most impressive is his 8 time winning of the Glenfiddich Piping Championship – an outstanding record.
In addition to Willie McCallum we are further strengthening the team with Ross Ainslie who will join the team on a part-time basis as a tutor for the degree and HNC programmes. Ross is one of Scotland’s most accomplished and successful performing musicians with a flair for composition. Prestigious industry recognition has come in the form of a multitude of award nominations, nomination for Musician of the Year at the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards 2013 and 2016, nomination for Best Duo with Jarlath Henderson in 2014. He’s also received nods at the Scots Trad Music Awards with various nominations,nominated for Instrumentalist of the year in 2010,nominated for Live Act of the year with Jarlath Henderson in 2008 and with Treacherous Orchestra in 2009 and 2010, nominated for Album of the year in 2013,Treacherous Orchestra won Album of the year and Ross also was Composer of the year in 2015.
We look forward to welcoming Willie and Ross in the near future, and are delighted that Wilson and Dan are now in place and teaching with us here at The National Piping Centre.