The critically acclaimed Pipes of Christmas concert returns to the NY metropolitan area on December 19 and 20 with acclaimed Scottish Actor Alan Cumming, serving as Honorary Chairman. This year marks the 11th anniversary of the “Pipes,” which presents the music of Christmas accompanied by readings from the Celtic literature of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
(PRWEB) November 23, 2009 -- The critically acclaimed Pipes of Christmas concert returns to the metropolitan area on December 19 and 20 with acclaimed Scottish Actor Alan Cumming, serving as Honorary Chairman.
This year marks the 11th anniversary of the “Pipes,” which presents the music of Christmas accompanied by readings from the Celtic literature of Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
Two concerts are scheduled for 2PM and 8PM on Saturday, December 19 at Central Presbyterian Church at 70 Maple Street in Summit, NJ. The “Pipes” returns to New York City on Sunday, December 20 at 2:30PM at the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church, at 921 Madison Avenue (at 73rd Street).
“As the Pipes enter their second decade, we are thrilled to have Mr. Cumming as our Honorary Chairman given his Scots heritage and his long list of accomplishments in theater, film, and television,” states Robert Currie, Executive Producer.
Mr. Cumming and the Pipes welcome a talented group of performers, including Andrew Weir from the film “Braveheart,” the Scottish Country Dance trio Local Hero, the Solid Brass ensemble, Scottish harpist Jennifer Port, and the Kevin Ray Blandford Memorial Pipe Band of Redlands, CA.
Concert ticket information
Tickets are now available at www.pipesofchristmas.com for $50 for the New Jersey concert and $60 for the New York concert. Tickets for the New York concert may also be purchased at www.smarttix.com, or by calling (212) 868-4444 or by mail. Premium VIP seats are available at both venues through membership in the “Fri of the Pipes of Christmas.”
The Pipes of Christmas has become a holiday tradition for many families. Over the last ten years, every performance in New Jersey has been sold out. Attendance at the New York City event has grown two-fold in just three years. Proceeds help fund music scholarships to deserving young students.
For a video preview, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZwXkVjxtZqo.
About “The Pipes of Christmas”
Since making its debut in 1999, The Pipes of Christmas has played to standing room only audiences. Given its popularity, a second concert was added in 2001 to accommodate the high-demand for tickets.
That same year, the concert began an award-winning partnership with HomeTowne Television by broadcasting concert highlights on Christmas Eve to an estimated 40,000 cable subscribers. Four productions have received the prestigious Telly Award for television production excellence.
Now a cherished holiday institution, the concert has provided audiences with a stirring and reverent celebration of the Christmas season and the Celtic spirit. Audience-goers return year after year to experience the program.
The concert has received great critical acclaim over the years. In a review for Classical New Jersey Magazine, Paul Somers wrote, “The whole evening was constructed to introduce gem after gem and still have a finale which raised the roof. In short, it was like a well constructed fireworks show on the Glorious Fourth. The Westfield (NJ) Leader described the concert as “a unique sound of power and glory nowhere else to be found.”
Proceeds from the concert fund three annual music scholarships. The Alex Currie Memorial Scholarship for Bagpipe was created in honor of the famed Canadian piper and is administered by the Gaelic College in Nova Scotia. An additional piping scholarship - The Pipe Major Kevin Ray Blandford Scholarship - is awarded annually by the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.
The recently-announced Col. William McMurdo Currie Memorial Scholarship for the Clarsach (Scottish harp) is awarded annually by the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, Scotland.
Visit the Pipes of Christmas fan page on Facebook.
About Alan Cumming
U.S. film audiences were first introduced to Alan Cumming in Circle of Fri, and he went on to appear in a wide range of films, including X2: X-Men United, the Spy Kids trilogy, Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion, Goldeneye, Eyes Wide Shut, Titus, Emma and Sweet Land, for which he earned an Independent Spirit Award for producing. Alongside friend Jennifer Jason Leigh, he wrote, produced, directed and starred in the acclaimed The Anniversary Party, which won a National Board of Review Award and two Independent Spirit nominations. Alan will next be seen in the upcoming films Dare, Boogie Woogie, Riverworld, and The Tempest opposite Helen Mirren. He will also appear in the film, Burlesque opposite Cher, Christina Aguillera and Stanley Tucci.
On television he has appeared in “Sex and the City,” “Frasier,” “Third Rock From the Sun,” “The L Word,” “Reefer Madness” and in Sci-Fi Channel’s record-breaking “Tin Man.” He is also the host of PBS’ “Masterpiece Mystery.” Prominent stage work includes Cabaret, which garnered him a Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards, Threepenny Opera, Design for Living, Elle, The Seagull, Bent, The Bacchae. He will next be seen as the Green Goblin in Julie Taymor’s Spider-Man Turn Off the Dark on Broadway in the Spring of 2010.
Cumming’s activism and charity work for civil rights and sex education causes have earned him several humanitarian awards, including two Human Rights Campaigns awards, GLAAD’s Vito Russo Media Award and The Trevor Project Hero Award. In 2005, he was awarded an Icon of Scotland and in 2006, received an honorary Doctorate of Arts from the University of Abertay, Dundee. Most recently, he was appointed an Officer of the British Empire (OBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list recognized for services to film, theater and the arts and to activism for equal rights for the LGBT community.
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