MICAH BABINSKI - Mercer Island, Washington

Micah Babinski has been playing pipes for ten years, half his life.  He is the youngest Highland Musical Arts instructor in the school's history, returning for his third year with the school.

Micah was born in Oakland, California, where he started lessons with Liza MacAdam, a piper and drummer with the Prince Charles Pipe Band.  Micah moved to Mercer Island, Washington, with his family in 1998.  He advanced steadily through the competitive solo piping grades in the Pacific Northwest.  In 2003 Micah won the Ian K. MacKinnon Memorial Medal for Grade 1 piobaireachd at the British Columbia Pipers' Association Annual Gathering.  That year Micah also won top Grade 1 prizes at the Queen Mary Scottish Festival and at the Caledonian Club of San Francisco Highland Games at Pleasanton, California.

In 2006 Micah was invited to the Nicol-Brown Amateur Invitational competition in Albany, New York, where he placed first in the march/strathspey/reel event and third in the piobaireachd.  Two months later Micah traveled to the George Sherriff Memorial Invitational competition in Toronto.  There he won both the march/strathspey/reel and the piobaireachd events, and placed third in the 6/8 march.  This earned him the aggregate award.  In 2007 Micah began his first year as an open (professional) soloist.

Micah has played in two winning World Pipe Band Championship circles:  in 2003 with the Grade 3B Prince Charles Pipe Band and last August with the Grade 2 Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band.  He currently plays with the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band and is a student of Jori Chisholm of Seattle, also a member of the SFU band.

Micah runs cross country for his high school team at Mercer Island High School, and also edits the Opinions Page for the student newspaper.

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This page last updated June 15, 2008