An Angus piper who played for rock legends Queen and the Dalai Lama will be a guest of honour at New York’s Tartan Week celebrations.
Craig Weir from Carnoustie will make a big din for the Big Yin at a dinner held for comedian Billy Connolly, among a host of events next week.
He will also play a tribute to one of his piping heroes at the 9/11 Memorial and, for the first time, pipe a commissioned piece in memory of Scots immigrants at Ellis Island.
The 21-year-old is flying over on Tuesday as an ambassador for World Peace Tartan.
After talking to Bronx and Manhattan schools about the instrument, Mr Weir will play as a guest with former Simple Minds drummer Mike Ogletree as part of a Glasgow Caledonian University event.
And after a lunchtime recital for the American Scottish Foundation at Bryant Park, he will play at the National Trust for Scotland USA gala dinner in honour of Scots comic Connolly.
On Friday he will play a selection at the National September 11 Memorial at the World Trade Center.
“I plan to play pieces including The Sleeping Tune by Gordon Duncan,” he said. “He was a legendary piper one of my idols who died in 2005.
“This is a lament he wrote, which is beautiful and I believe it will reflect the mood of the day. I expect that will send a real shiver up my spine and I already have a lump in my throat when I think about it.”
On April 12, Craig’s visit will conclude with the world premiere of his composition for the event, The Immigrant’s Lament, as the centrepiece of Tartan Day on Ellis Island the largest celebration of its kind in the world.
“It seems an appropriate piece to play at the spot where so many Scots landed on their arrival in the USA,” he said.
Craig played for the Dalai Lama when he visited Dundee in 2012, piped Happy Birthday for Mohandas Gandhi’s grandson, Arun, over Skype last year, and has played for the Queen, TV personality Lorraine Kelly, and tennis star Andy Murray at his graduation. Last year he was asked to play the pipes at Queen’s world tour gig at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow.
Craig is Pipe Sergeant of the Arbroath Royal British Legion Pipe Band and fronts four-piece Celtic rock band Gleadhraich, whose latest EP, Where We’re From, is available on iTunes.