Peter Kapp: Bagpiper

Locations of recent engagements:
Mendocino
County Branscomb
Boonville
Yorkville
Ukiah
Potter Valley
Willits
Laytonville Redwood valley
Hopland
Fort Bragg
Elk
Point Arena
Anchor Bay
Westport
Gualala
Mendocino
Lake County
Lakeport
Lower Lake Upper Lake
Kelseyville
Cobb Mountain
Nice
Lucerne
Middletown
Humboldt
County
Arcata
Eureka
Patrick's Point
Trinidad
Fortuna
Ferndale
Mattole Valley
Redway Blocksburg
Garberville Shelter Cove
Sonoma
County
Santa Rosa
Cotati
Rhonert Park
Sonoma
Petaluma
Occidental Cazadero Plantation
Fort Ross
Guerneville
Forestville
Windsor
Healdsburg
Glen Ellen
Bodega Bay
Sea Ranch
Kenwood
Marin
County
San Rafael
Tiburon
Belvedere
San Anselmo
Corte Madera
Ross
Kentfield
Fairfax
Forest Knolls
Larkspur
Mt Tamalpais
Novato
Mill Valley
Sausalito
San Quentin
Bolinas
Inverness
Point Reyes Station
Black Point
Tomales
Marshall
Napa Valley
Calistoga
St. Helena
Rutherford
Oakville
Yountville
Angwin
Sacramento
Valley
Old Sacramento
Sacramento Carmichael Citrus Heights
Davis
Dixon
Elk Grove
Woodbridge
Lodi
Vacaville
Fairfield
Roseville
Rocklin
Grass Valley
Nevada City
Yuba City
Marysville
Chico
Gridley
Redding
Red Bluff
Mount Lassen
Mount Shasta
Stockton
San Francisco
Bay Area
San Francisco
Richmond
Palo Alto
San Mateo
Half Moon Bay
Sunnyvale
Los Gatos
San Jose
Saratoga
Vallejo
Benicia
Daly City
Berkeley
Martinez

The sound of the bagpipes lends an elegant touch to any event whether somber or celebratory. With over 35 years as a professional bagpiper and a repertoire of hundreds of tunes, I work closely with clients to select exactly the right music for their setting. I live in Mendocino county and perform throughout Northern California at weddings, memorials, parties, openings and ceremonial events of all types. My wife Wendy and I often play bagpipes together at events for greater dramatic effect. For events that require larger numbers of bagpipers, I can provide a group of pipers who play to a very high standard.
Our minimum fee is $375 per piper.

For more information, or to book your event please call
Peter Kapp (707) 895-3406 (Pacific Time Zone)

photos from recent engagements:

On the way to Cat Dailey's and Kyle O'Hara's family reunion at Angele's restaurant
in Napa, California, 19 February, 2005

photo by Marc Coelho
The Blessing of the Sausalito fishing fleet, April 17, 2004.

photo by Marc Coelho
This lovely ceremony took place on the docks in Sausalito just before
sunrise as the fishing boats sailed from the harbor. Father Richard
S. Deitch of St. Mary Star of the Sea church blessed the fleet and
the sound of the bagpipes echoed over the water as the boats
headed out to sea. The music of the pipes has a particularly magical
effect near a body of water, as the water surface creates a unique
amplification of the sound. After the ceremony, participants attended
a special breakfast hosted by Fish Restaurant.

Heritage House Inn near the town of Mendocino is an excellent location for a wedding by the sea. This is a photo taken there at the wedding of Brian Thompson and Melinda Barnes on 22 May, 2004.

The Mendocino Headlands is another spectacular
location for weddings. Here Wendy and I are playing
with the ocean behind us for Marin Asbell's ceremony
on 9 August, 2003.

Emmy Lou Packard was instrumental in
the creation of the Mendocino Art Center
and the preservation of the Mendocino Headlands. Wendy and I played at the dedication of a plaque on the Headlands commemorating her work Sunday, 26 April, 1999.
Emmy Lou had a close association with Mexican artists Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera. Frida and Emmy Lou are pictured below, circa 1940.

Bagpipes and the sea seem to have an afinity.
Here is Wendy playing in Scotland in July,
1998, with Bass Rock in the background.
Over the course of history Bass Rock has
been the site of a monastery, a fortress,
a prison, a sheep farm, and a light house.
The Unjust Incarceration, a piobaireachd
(classical pipe tune), celebrates the escape
of the chief of the Strathnaver MacKays
who was held hostage here in the 15th century.

Kisimul castle in Castle Bay, Isle of Barra, Scotland was
the seat of the MacNeils. The castle was wonderfully restored by the last chief who was an American architect. He and his wife are buried there. Here I am playing near
the beacon on the high keep, July 1998.

The following winter we traveled to East Africa. Wendy played bagpipes for Kikuyu school children on the slopes of Mt.Kenya. Below is Wendy's sketch of nearby St. Francis of Assisi church where the choir sang for us and we played pipes for them.

We are pictured here piping at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire, Black Point Forest, California, September 2000.

On 15 July, 2001, Rod Cameron married us at Lone Tree Farm. We played our own wedding procession.

A noteworthy engagement in 1988 took me to Washington
DC. I played inside the Capitol Rotunda at the end of an event sponsored by the National Peace Corps Association. Volunteers who had served during the early 60s read excerpts from their letters home during a 24 hour vigil in honor of the memory of president John F. Kennedy. My friend Alden Kamikawa who was a volunteer with me in Colombia in 1963, was one of the organizers and he took these photos.
President Ronald Reagan was honored in the same location in June, 2004.

For more information, or to book your event please call

Peter Kapp (707) 895-3406 (Pacific Time Zone)