Former SFU piper James MacHattie is moving back from Toronto to BC and will be rejoining the band’s ranks, along with his wife Kylie. Both pipers have played with the 78th Fraser Highlanders for the last 2 seasons. Prior to joining the Fraser Highlanders, James was pipe major of the Grade 1 Toronto Police Pipe Band for 3 years.
With the addition of James and Kylie the band now has 29 pipers on its roster.
On Monday, October 5th the SFU Pipe Band performed at the home opener of the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks at a sold-out GM Place. The band, wearing Canucks jerseys, was introduced as the six-time and current World Pipe Band Champions, and received a warm welcome from the crowd.
The band performed a stripped down version of their ‘Beaches of Harris’ suite at centre ice prior to the opening faceoff and followed it up with a piece written by the Canucks’ musical director especially for the band. An extended version of this piece has been recorded by the band and is being played at select home games throughout the season. See a YouTube clip of the performance.
The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band won its second consecutive and sixth all-time World Pipe Band Championship at Glasgow Green on Saturday, August 15th. SFU won both the Medley and MSR events and also took the drumming prize, also for the second consecutive year.
The victory came just 3 days after the band performed at a sold-out, standing room only, Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. A recording of this performance will be released as the band’s 11th album, ‘Affirmation’.
