With just under a month until the Boney Music Memorial Invitational Piping Competition and Recital, the event is again shaping up to be one of the BC Pipers’ Association’s highlight events of the year. Featuring the top 5 finishers from the 2017 Open Piping Grand Aggregate standings, the performers will attempt to dazzle the crowd with top-quality piping on February 24 at SFU Burnaby in support of finding a cure for brain cancer.
“We are very fortunate to be able to showcase this high level of talent in one evening,” says BC Pipers’ Association President, Rob MacNeil. “It is an honour to continue Andrew Bonar’s legacy by hosting an event that lives up to the standards he brought to and sought from our piping community.”
Andrew Bonar, BCPA Life Member and longtime BCPA Open Piping competitor, started the event in 2016 after being diagnosed with brain cancer. Andrew passed away in October 2017 after a hard-fought battle with the disease.
“His goal was to create an event that engaged and captivated the audience and most importantly to direct the piping world toward a mission of using their music to support charitable causes – and in the past two years, this contest certainly has achieved those aims,” MacNeil continued. “Boney’s idea was to create unique and fun tune requirements so competitors can play music that is not often heard in solo piping contests. In turn, he hoped these performances would inspire the audience to contribute to the ultimate goal of conquering brain cancer.”
This year, competitors are required to play at least one tune composed by Andrew Bonar himself (to be played at the start of the performance), the ground of a piobaireachd, at least two ‘two-parted’ strathspeys, at least one ‘four-parted’ 4/4 march, and at least one tune in 9/8 time. Each competitor has 20 minutes to perform, which also includes the time they are allotted to tune.
Admission is by donation and all proceeds from this event will be donated to the BC Cancer Foundation.
The contest takes place in the Halpern Centre at Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby campus and the doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a 7:00 p.m. start time.
We also hope you will be able to attend our ‘pre-contest’ dinner from 5:00-7:00 at Club Ilia, located at SFU Burnaby (8902 University High St, Burnaby, BC V5A 4X6), and again after the contest for a refreshment. The dinner menu will be discounted by 10% to attendees of the contest.
Free parking will be available in the East Parking Lot from 5:00 pm to 11:30 pm on the day.
Let us know you are coming on our Facebook Event page: https://www.facebook.com/events/138962066907369/
And please help us spread the word by sharing this post on social media!
For more information, including details about competitors and past-winners, please visit:
https://archive.bcpipers.org/programs/boney-music-memorial-invitational/
