Bio
Piper, teacher, workshop leader and composer, Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 20 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States.
Based in St Paul, MN, he is a full-time musician, passionately presenting the traditional music of Scotland, Cape Breton Island, and Northumberland, as well as Nordic folk music, early music, and traditional Cambodian music. He is also an active composer, studio musician and theater musician, and his solo Northumbrian smallpipes CD Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes was released in 2007.
Dick Hensold is a bagpipe specialist that came to the pipes after a solid early music training at Oberlin Conservatory, so he combines a love for traditional music and a rigorous emphasis on musicianship and expression—his interpretations of both early music and traditional folk are therefore not always what you would expect, but are generally universally satisfying. For the past 25 years he has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States.
2022 sees the resumption of Dick’s touring, and the release of The Welcome Companion, the new duo album with Patsy O’Brien, and the re-release of his 2007 CD, Big Music for Northumbrian Smallpipes. (See this website's "Recordings" page for more details.) He continues to teach Northumbrian smallpipes at workshops around the country and online.
30 words:
Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 25 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States.
55 words:
Dick Hensold is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America, and for the past 25 years has performed and taught in England, Scotland, Japan, Canada, and across the United States. He also plays Swedish bagpipes, Scottish reel pipes, Highland pipes, recorder, seljefløyte, and low whistle, and is an active composer, studio musician and theater musician.
75 words:
Dick Hensold, from St Paul, MN, is the leading Northumbrian smallpiper in North America and tours the country with both a solo program and a duo show. He plays traditional music of Scotland, Ireland and Northumberland, Nordic folk music, and early music. He also plays Scottish reel pipes, Highland pipes, Swedish bagpipes, Medieval greatpipes, recorder, seljefløyte, and low whistle, and is an active composer and theater musician. “a master piper with an exquisite touch” —City Pages