Pipe Major Michel D'Avenas is a classically trained musician and award-winning professional piper with over 30 years performance and instructional experience.
Michel d'Avenas is the Piper Major of the Monterey Bay Pipe Band and the leading bagpipe instructor in Monterey County.
He is a piping competition judge at Scottish Festivals and other events, and founder of the Monterey Celtic Arts Academy and The Monterey Bay School of Piping and Drumming.
Michel plays a classic set of Great Highland bagpipes mounted in ivory with silver and African Blackwood drones and manufactured by William Sinclair & Sons of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Michel is often seen playing at sundown at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach.
A Monterey County native, Michel's musical family came from both Great Britiain and France.
After graduating from RLS, he served in the U.S. Army European Command Honor Guard.
He then studied music theory and composition at U.C. Berkeley, and learned from renowned bagpipe players such as Seumas MacNeil, Ian MacFadyen, John Burgess, Archie Cairns, Jimmy MacColl, and Jack Lee.
Associations
- Celtic Society of the Monterey Bay
- Monterey Bay Pipe Band Piper Major
- Monterey Celtic Arts Academy
- Monterey Bay School of Piping and Drumming
- Western United States Pipe Band Association
- Monterey Scottish Games Co-Chair, Piping and Drumming Competition
- Scottish Society of the Monterey Peninsula Society Piper Awards
- Northern California Indoor Champion
First Place Solo Piping at the Scottish Games in:
- Santa Rosa
- Monterey
- Los Angeles
- Dunsmire Previous Pipe Band Memberships
- Culloden Mor - Grade I
- Dunvegan Pipe Bands - Grade I
- Monterey Scottish - Grade III
- First Salinas Valley Highlanders Special News Profiles
- Monterey County Herald
- Salinas Californian
- Carmel Pine Cone
Michel has a vast repertoire of marches, strathpeys, reels, hornpipes, jigs, and slow airs.
These include the following most requested tunes:
- Amazing Grace
- Barren Rock's of Aden
- Bonnie Dundee
- Danny Boy
- Flower of Scotland
- Flowers of the Forest
- For All Those Endearing Young Charms
- Gary Owen
- Green Hills of Tyrol aka Scottish Soldier
- Going Home
- Highland Cathedral
- Highland Laddie
- Highland Wedding
- Mari's Wedding aka Mary's Wedding
- Minstrel Boy
- Mist Covered Mountains
- My Home
- Scotland the Brave
- Skye Boat Song
- Wearing of the Green
- When the Battle's Over
Read More
Michel d'Avenas is the Piper Major of the Monterey Bay Pipe Band and the leading bagpipe instructor in Monterey County.
He is a piping competition judge at Scottish Festivals and other events, and founder of the Monterey Celtic Arts Academy and The Monterey Bay School of Piping and Drumming.
Michel plays a classic set of Great Highland bagpipes mounted in ivory with silver and African Blackwood drones and manufactured by William Sinclair & Sons of Edinburgh, Scotland.
Michel is often seen playing at sundown at the Inn at Spanish Bay in Pebble Beach.
A Monterey County native, Michel's musical family came from both Great Britiain and France.
After graduating from RLS, he served in the U.S. Army European Command Honor Guard.
He then studied music theory and composition at U.C. Berkeley, and learned from renowned bagpipe players such as Seumas MacNeil, Ian MacFadyen, John Burgess, Archie Cairns, Jimmy MacColl, and Jack Lee.
Associations
- Celtic Society of the Monterey Bay
- Monterey Bay Pipe Band Piper Major
- Monterey Celtic Arts Academy
- Monterey Bay School of Piping and Drumming
- Western United States Pipe Band Association
- Monterey Scottish Games Co-Chair, Piping and Drumming Competition
- Scottish Society of the Monterey Peninsula Society Piper Awards
- Northern California Indoor Champion
First Place Solo Piping at the Scottish Games in:
- Santa Rosa
- Monterey
- Los Angeles
- Dunsmire Previous Pipe Band Memberships
- Culloden Mor - Grade I
- Dunvegan Pipe Bands - Grade I
- Monterey Scottish - Grade III
- First Salinas Valley Highlanders Special News Profiles
- Monterey County Herald
- Salinas Californian
- Carmel Pine Cone
Michel has a vast repertoire of marches, strathpeys, reels, hornpipes, jigs, and slow airs.
These include the following most requested tunes:
- Amazing Grace
- Barren Rock's of Aden
- Bonnie Dundee
- Danny Boy
- Flower of Scotland
- Flowers of the Forest
- For All Those Endearing Young Charms
- Gary Owen
- Green Hills of Tyrol aka Scottish Soldier
- Going Home
- Highland Cathedral
- Highland Laddie
- Highland Wedding
- Mari's Wedding aka Mary's Wedding
- Minstrel Boy
- Mist Covered Mountains
- My Home
- Scotland the Brave
- Skye Boat Song
- Wearing of the Green
- When the Battle's Over
Read More
Last edited:
