Vale of atholl tickets go on sale
Festival committee gears up for Grade ONE BAND’s VISIT
Tickets for the Orkney Folk Festival’s spectacular piping concert, featuring the Grade one Robert Wiseman Dairies Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, go on sale this week, on Friday, April 10.
The visiting band, widely regarded as one of the best in the world, will appear alongside Orkney’s own Kirkwall City Pipe Band, Stromness Royal British Legion Pipe Band and Orkney Traditional Music Project, in a showcase concert in Kirkwall’s Pickaquoy Centre Arena, on Saturday, May 23.
Tickets for all other events throughout the festival will go on sale in early May, however such is the anticipated demand for this concert that the tickets are being released early. In 2008 the festival hosted the Scottish Fiddle Orchestra in a similar scale concert in the Kirkwall leisure centre, which sold out well in advance.
A Grade One outfit, the Pitlochry-based Vale of Atholl Pipe Band, sponsored by Robert Wiseman Dairies, has a reputation for enthralling, high octane performances of both old and new material. The band has been recognised as one of the best in the field since the early 1980s, having been promoted from Grade Four to One in just seven competition seasons, from 1977 to 1983. Throughout the band’s Grade One career they have been led by three highly respected Pipe Majors – Ian Duncan, Andy Renwick and Adrian Cramb, who currently holds the post with Andy Renwick now as his Pipe Sergeant. Both pipers will definitely appear in Orkney. The 35-strong outfit will perform in Orkney the weekend after competing in the Scottish Pipe Band Championships in Dumbarton, promising to be on top form throughout their short stay in the county.
Orkney Folk Festival Director, Bob Gibbon is looking forward to the Vale’s visit, adding that he believes it will compliment the main festival perfectly. “I’m delighted to have the Vale of Atholl appearing at the festival, and for us to now be in a position to put tickets for the event on sale,” he said. “The piping concert is going to be a major event and really will be one of the biggest and most spectacular displays of piping Orkney has ever seen!”
Tickets for the concert cost £15, with £12 concessions available for senior citizens, students and the registered unemployed (on production of proof) and to children under 16. Tickets will be available from the Pickaquoy Centre reception, Nimms in Kirkwall and J.B. Rosey in Stromness. Tickets are also available for purchase online, from www.orkneyfolkfestival.com
The 27th Orkney Folk Festival takes place from Thursday, May 21, to Sunday, May 24, 2009. For a full, up-to-date list of artistes appearing at the festival, as well as information on venues and ticket releases, log on to www.orkneyfolkfestival.com or www.myspace.com/orkneyfolkfest.