Finlay MacDonald (born 1978) is a Scottish musician and composer. He was one of the first pipers to receive a BA in Scottish music and piping from the

Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland ( gd, Conservatoire Rìoghail na h-Alba), formerly the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama ( gd, Acadamaidh Rìoghail Ciùil is Dràma na h-Alba) is a conservatoire of dance, drama, music, production, and ...

. MacDonald is head of piping studies at the

National Piping Centre The National Piping Centre is an institution in Glasgow, Scotland, dedicated to the playing of the bagpipes, to include not only the Great Highland Bagpipes, but also the Scottish smallpipes and Irish uileann pipes, as well as other traditiona ...

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

. He founded his own band The Finlay MacDonald Band, which toured between 2006 and 2007 to highly positive reviews, though in recent years they have been inactive. Annually he works with

Roddy MacLeod Roddy MacLeod, MBE (born August 26, 1962) is a Scottish bagpiper, director of the annual Piping Live! Festival and former principal of the National Piping Centre. He is known to be vocal against Scottish reforms in the realm of piping. In 2006 ...

to organise the

Piping Live! Festival The Piping Live! Festival (a.k.a. Piping Hot Festival) is an annual bagpiping event held in Glasgow by the National Piping Centre. The festival was created in 2003 and occurs on the run-up to the World Pipe Band Championships. It is estimated th ...

. He performed with

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and

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in 2010 and later with

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at the

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall Glasgow Royal Concert Hall is a concert and arts venue located in Glasgow, Scotland. It is owned by Glasgow City Council and operated by Glasgow Life, an agency of Glasgow City Council, which also runs Glasgow's City Halls and Old Fruitmarket v ...

. As well as musical collaborations and performances, MacDonald appeared in the

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film ''

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''. In 2012, MacDonald was the co-star with

Alastair Campbell Alastair John Campbell (born 25 May 1957) is a British journalist, author, strategist, broadcaster and activist known for his roles during Tony Blair's leadership of the Labour Party. Campbell worked as Blair's spokesman and campaign director ...

in a

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documentary, ''First Love'', in which he taught the former Labour Party strategist, who had learned the pipes as a child, to prepare for a major solo piping performance at the Royal Concert Hall in Glasgow. The experience rekindled Campbell's love of piping, and MacDonald has since become his tutor, and the pair have performed together at a number of events, including anti-

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

rallies.

Discography

*''First O' the Darkenin'' 2004

References

Living people Place of birth missing (living people) 1978 births Great Highland bagpipe players Players of border pipes Tin whistle players {{Scotland-musician-stub