Ann Gray

Ann started piping at the age of 10 as part of the Balmoral Girls' Pipe Band in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. By the age of 18 she had won every amateur piping award in Nova Scotia and had moved into the professional class of solo competition, and was playing with Eastern Canada's only Grade 1 Pipe Band at the time, the Scotia Legion Pipe Band; concurrently, she was teaching at the Gaelic College in Cape Breton during the summer months and was Pipe Major of the band associated with the College for five years.

In 1986, after completing her Master of Arts degree in Celtic Studies at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Ann moved to Calgary, Alberta, where she currently resides. She continues to play in pipe bands, compete in solo events, and teaches at various schools throughout North America, including most notably the Gaelic college in Cape Breton and the Coeur d'Alene School of Piping in Idaho, USA. She is presently a long-distance member of the Grade 2 City of Regina Pipe Band and teaches private students on a weekly basis.

Ann is also a member of Western Canada's Celtic band "Seanachie", playing various instruments including highland pipes, Scottish smallpipes, whistles, bodhran and mandolin. She also does some vocal work in this group.

Awards:
Some of the more significant awards that Ann has recently won include the 1995 Dunvegan medal at the Skye Gathering in Portree, Scotland; the Alberta Championship Supreme Award in 1994,1995,1996 and 1999; the aggregate awards at both the B.C. Pipers' indoor competition and the Antigonish Highland Games in 1997 and the latter again in I 998; the Atlantic Canada Piobaireachd Championship in 1997; the North American Piobaireachd Society's "Banner of the Mountain" in 1997; the MacCrimmon Memorial Cairn for Piobaireachd at the B.C. Pipers' indoor competition in 1999; and the Royal Bank of Canada Gold Medal for Piobaireachd at the Canmore Highland Games in 1996 and 1999. Ann has also been on the prize list for the William Livingstone St. Memorial Invitational competition in Hamilton, Ontario for the past four years in a row, placed at the Metro Cup Invitational contest on Newark, New Jersey both years that she attended, made it to the prize list in the Piobaireachd at Cowal in 1995 and again in 1999, and has placed twice on the Silver Medal at Oban.