Seumas Coyne
Seumas Coyne started playing bagpipes at the age of 3 1/2 and became the youngest professional piper in the world at the age of 12. Seumas was taught by Jim Coyne, Angus Mackay, Jimmy McIntosh, Murray Henderson and Jack Lee. Throughout his solo career he has won numerous titles throughout North America, The United Kingdom, and Australia. Seumas is a well established solo player, tutor, composer, and judge. He is the Director of the James J. Coyne Memorial School of Piping and Drumming, full time in teaching, clinics, composing, and judging. He is a long-standing member of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. He played in the 80’s & 90’s with the band and won B.C. Piper of the Year in 1991. Seumas knew Andrew since the age of 15, friends, competitors, and bandmates. They grew up in the piping scene together. Seumas was able to compete on the BCPA circuit in the Pacific Northwest this past season and placed in the top five of the Open standings. He finds himself invited to compete and perform in his first Boney Music Memorial Invitational. This past summer he also competed in Scotland and won the B Grade Piobaireachd at the Lochaber Gathering. Seumas lives in Claremont California with his wife and three daughters.
Alastair Lee
Alastair is a top solo competitor in Canada, U.S.A., and Scotland. This season he took home the top prizes in Open Piping at the Annual Gathering and was the BCPA overall Grand Aggregate winner. His dad, Terry Lee is his tutor. In Scotland he is now in the Former Winners MSR at Oban as well as the Gold Medal for Piobaireachd at Oban and Inverness. Alastair also pipes for Highland Dancing on a regular basis and is sought after in Canada and the U.S.A. Not only is he a well established piper on the competitive circuit, Alastair is also a multi talented musician. He plays the piano, guitar, and accordion and enjoys composing and creating musical arrangements. Alastair started his pipe band career with the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band. He is a long standing member of the world renowned Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, joining in 2008. He was privileged to win the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championship in his first two tries (2008 & 2009). In concert with the band, Alastair can be seen playing both pipes and keyboards, most recently this past August at the largest Pre-Worlds concert at the SEC Armadillo, in Glasgow Scotland. Alastair continues to give back to the RMM Organization, as the Instructor for the RMM grade 4 band for the past several years. He also enjoys being a solo piping instructor, workshop instructor, and judge. Alastair graduated with honours in 2013 from the Art Institute of Vancouver in professional sound engineering. He currently works full-time at the well-known Scottish importing firm Tartantown Ltd. as a bagpipe technician, shipper and sales associate. He is also a new resident of Port Coquitlam, B.C.
Alan Bevan
Alan is one of the world’s top pipers. His career highlights include winning the Gold and Silver Medals at the Northern Meeting, the Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering, the Bronze Star for ‘A’ Marches at the Argyllshire Gathering, the Jig events at both Oban and Inverness in the same year, overall winner at the Donald MacLeod Memorial competition and overall winner at the Master’s Invitational. Alan has been a member of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band since 1995, and has been pipe major since 2013. He has won the World Championship with the band on several occasions. Alan has performed as a featured soloist at the band’s concerts at Roy Thompson Hall in Toronto, the Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and both the Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York.
For many years, Alan has served as Leader of the Adjudication Subcommittee of the British Columbia Pipers’ Association. He practices as in house counsel for a large insurance provider and lives in Abbotsford, BC.
Zephan Knichel
Originally from Edmonton and a former member of the Alberta Caledonia Pipe Band, Zephan has been a grade one band player since 2003. He is currently in his tenth season as a member of the world-renowned Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. Zephan also competes as a soloist all over North America and in Scotland. He has competed at the Argyllshire Gathering in Oban and the Northern Meeting in Inverness several times. He has earned prizes in the “B” Light Music at both events and in the Silver Medal Piobaireachd at Oban. Zephan is a former winner of the Boney Invitational and placed second overall in the 2023 BCPA Grand Aggregate Standings for Open Piping. Zephan works full-time teaching individuals, group classes, pipe bands, and at various piping schools all over North America. Zephan now lives in Lynnwood, WA with his wife Samantha.
2024 Music Requirements
This year’s musical requirements are taken from the first Boney Music Invitational in 2016, as Andrew had set them. Players will play a 20 minute recital of tunes of their choice, however, within the 20 minutes, players must include the following –
1. Ground of any Piobaireachd
2. At least one tune written by Andrew Bonar
3. At least two, two parted Strathspeys
4. At least one tune written by a Canadian Composer not from British Columbia
5. At least one, four parted 6/8 March
We look forward to hearing these very talented pipers this Saturday, March 9, 2024 at the 2024 Boney Music Memorial Invitational Competition & Recital. The audience will also be treated to a special performance by the Bonar family. This will be a great night of music and community, let’s raise funds in memory of our good friend, Andrew Bonar, for Brain Cancer Research through the BC Cancer Foundation. The event will be live-streamed and will take place in person at the Seaforth Armoury, 1650 Burrard Street, Vancouver, B.C. Doors open 6:00pm with performances at 7:00pm. Please note that hats are not permitted to be worn in the Seaforth messes.
Donations will be accepted on our BC Cancer Foundation donation page found here:
Donations will also be accepted in-person on the evening of the event.
Entrance to the Armoury is through the Hoffmeister Building Parkade, 1755 W 1st Ave, Vancouver, B.C. V6J 0G7. Once parked, go down the staircase at the northwest corner of the parkade, across the military parking lot to the doorway indicated by the arrow. There are many doors into the Garrison, all others will be locked. There will be signage and Seaforth troops assisting and directing the way to the Anderson Room. For anyone with accessibility needs, Seaforth troops can provide access through the Hoffmeister building, which has ramps and automatic doors.
Thank you for your support, see you there!
