Piper Julius Li Performs His First Ever Solo Recital

On the 7th of March, Piper Julius Li held his own Solo Recital at the SJI Bishan Amphitheatre, lasting for an entire 80 minutes long.

Pipe Julius Li

Julius has been playing the pipes since he was 12 and over the last 2 years, he has been studying piping at the advanced level under the internationally-renowned piping instructor and adjudicator, Bob Worrall of Toronto, Canada.

In October last year, he went off to Glasgow and studied piping at the National Piping Centre for about 4 months. He was taught by Gold medalist, Glenn Brown, David Wilton and had a few sessions with NPC principal Roddy Macleod MBE. Inspired by this trip, Julius is committed to to developing an appreciation for the music of the highland bagpipes within the region.

Not surprisingly, shortly after returning to Singapore, he held his first ever solo-recital consisting of approximately 9 self-arranged pieces. The tunes he played included 6/8 and 2/4 Marches, Reels, Strathspey, Hornpipe, Slow Air, Piobaireachd and so on.

Catch a video of his performance here.

Quoting Alan Wallace, the President of the Pipe Band Association (Singapore):

"It was enlightening to see a better understanding of rhythm and technique that Julius has achieved over the past few months and his recital (80 minutes) was of a very high standard. Along with this was a confident and light hearted explanation of all the music he played for us.

On a slightly different note, I was so pleased to see one of our Singaporean musicians take on a venture like this. Julius made all the arrangements himself and attracted a passionate audience of around 30. I am hoping this might be the start of a Piping Society in Singapore and I'll give my best support to Julius in instigating this."

Piper Julius Li together with Alan Wallace and Helen from
PBAS, as well as members of the McNally Memorial Pipe Band

Well done Julius! And we look forward to more in the future.