Cristiano Bicudo

Highland arts patron, Piper, Brazilian pipe band leader and bagpipe instructor with nearly 40 years of experience, he pioneered the study of the standard technique of the Highland pipes in Brazil in the 1990s, after becoming the first Brazilian to have formal piping instruction at the College of Piping in Glasgow in 1986-1987. In 1995, he founded with his pupils Brazil's first authentic pipe band, The Scottish Link (SLPB), renamed Brasil Caledonia (BCPB) in 2009. Under his leadership, SLPB became South America's first pipe band to compete at the World Championships in 1997 and joined SPBASA as a founding member. Also under his leadership, Brasil Caledonia became South American (SPBASA) champions in Buenos Aires in 2013. With his brother Marcos, he organised and funded Rio Piping Hot 1 (2015) and 2 (2017) in Petropolis, as well as the 6th South American Pipe Band Gathering (G6) in São Paulo in 2015, the latter the first gathering of this type ever to be held in Brazil. During the 2020 pandemic, he provided piping instruction to the pipers of the Martial Band of the Brazilian Marine Corps.  In 2018, he was awarded the Balvenie Medal in Scotland by the William Grant Foundation for services to piping.