On 30 October 2016, seventeen of the twenty Glenfiddich Fiddle Champions returned to Blair Castle for a unique and memorable ‘festival of champions’ to celebrate the legacy of this very special competition. They were joined by US fiddler, Tim MacDonald who had already secured an invitation to compete had the Championship continued that year.

This celebration event provided a memorable finale to the Championship, following the decision by the William Grant Foundation to discontinue the event in order to support Scottish music in new ways in future.

A full recording of the event is available to stream online from TRADtv

The Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship 1989 – 2015

Down the centuries there have been many great fiddle competitions. In 1745, Niel Gow won a competition in Perth “Open to all Scotland”. The judge, a blind man named John McCraw declared that he could distinguish Niel’s bow among a hundred players. It is particularly appropriate that Blair Castle, the great seat of the Dukes of Atholl and inextricably linked with Gow’s life and music, was the venue for the Glenfiddich Fiddle Championship which ran from 1989 until its final competition in 2015.

In its 26 years, twenty of the best exponents of Scottish fiddle music were crowned Glenfiddich Champion. In 2007, the winner of The U.S. National Scottish Fiddle Competition was extended an invitation to play at Blair Castle and since that year four Glenfiddich champions hailed from the U.S.

A list of the Glenfiddich Fiddle Champions and the year(s) they won can be found below

The Glenfiddich Piping Championships will continue 

2017’s Championship will take place on Saturday, 28th October in Blair Castle, Blair Atholl..

For further information please contact liz.maxwell@wgrant.com or telephone 0845 602 1974.