Retired Canadian Army Maj. Bruce W MacDonald is aware that Gaelic words can be difficult to pronounce. But he has a solution.
“Gaelic is not something you want to take on without being drunk,” he said.
MacDonald serves on the boards of the Robert Burns Society of Charleston and the Clan Donald Trust, a global organization dedicated to preserving Gaelic culture. Both organizations share a focus on celebrating Scottish culture — a broad umbrella encompassing Gaelic culture, with its unique Highland language and traditions. It’s a mission MacDonald feels strongly about. Five years ago, the groups organized a new tradition in Charleston, the Scottish Performing Arts Classic at Piccolo Spoleto.
According to MacDonald, the Clan Donald Trust for the Gaelic Performing Arts is a major force in the preservation and promotion of the Gaelic performing arts.
“We’re working very hard to not only support but encourage the Gaelic culture,” he said. “If anybody has an interest in that kind of music, the Classic is where they need to come to find it.”
When MacDonald became an officer of the High Council for the trust in 2019, he suggested that the trust’s three major performance competitions move to Charleston in conjunction with Spoleto Festival USA and Piccolo Spoleto.
The three competitions are sectioned into categories of Gaelic instrument: the piobaireachd (the Highland bagpipes), the clarsach (the harp) and the Scottish fiddle. MacDonald promises that audiences are in for a treat.
“Piobaireachd is the classical music of the great Highland bagpipes,” he said. “It’s a little different sort of music than people are used to on pipe bagpipes. Songs or tunes are anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes long and very, very intense and fabulous.”
‘Just a lot of fun’
Diane Smith of Mount Pleasant, the recording secretary and a board member of the Robert Burns Society, has been a member since the organization was founded five years ago. Not only has her involvement with the group made her more aware of Scottish culture, but it has also made Smith a major fan of Gaelic music.
“I think the fiddle is just a lot of fun,” Smith said. “You think of Appalachia and the fiddle, and you get that kind of rocking and rolling there.”
In addition to the three competitions, the series includes a harp concert performed by Scottish harpist Maeve Gilchrist.
“Maeve is a phenomenal player,” MacDonald said. “She’s played with such luminaries as Yo-Yo Ma and Esperanza Spalding and a great number of others. She’s got five albums released, and her music is fabulous.”
Beyond the Performing Arts Classic, the Robert Burns Society of Charleston hosts two major events, the Tartan Ball in November and the Burns Supper in January. But regardless of the event, Smith emphasized how the Burns Society has made her appreciate Scottish culture.
“Because of it, I’ve been to Scotland five times now,” she said. “If you get to know the Scottish, they’re really in love with life.”
IF YOU WANT TO GO: The Scottish Performing Arts Classic contains four events at South Carolina Society Hall: a solo Scottish harp concert by Maeve Gilchrist at 1 p.m. June 6; the 2025 Joseph McDonald Memorial Prize for Piobaireachd (Highland Bagpipes) at 5 p.m. June 6; the 2025 Princess Margaret of the Isles Memorial Clarsach (Harp) Competition at 1 p.m. June 7; and the 2025 Dan R. MacDonald Memorial Fiddle Competition at 4 p.m. June 7.
Ally Watkinson is an arts, style and culture journalism graduate student at Syracuse University.
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