Winner, “Best of 2012-2019”*, Piper to the Stars – Darius Kaufmann has 25 years experience performing on a wide range of Celtic instruments, including Highland bagpipes, smallpipes, Irish whistle, bodhran (Irish drum), spoons and voice. He has performed for thousands of events throughout the Northeastern U.S. - from weddings, parties and funerals to churches, schools and museums, to bandshells, sports arenas and celebrity events. His extensive T.V., movie and studio credits include “Good Morning America” (See Video), “The Tonight Show”, “Conan O'Brien”, MTV’s Music Video Awards, the Russell Crowe film “Tenderness”, and the Broadway production of “Lucky Guy” starring Tom Hanks. He has performed with Sinead O'Connor, and recorded with Tom Chapin on the Grammy-nominated CD “Around the World and Back Again”. In December of 2013 he was invited by Bono to perform for NY City Mayor Bloomberg's farewell party at Gracie Mansion, along with Paul Simon and Whoopi Goldberg. His piping can be heard in the feature film “The Lost City of Z”.
Darius has been a member of several competition pipe bands in the N.Y. area, including Inis Fada and the Monaghan Pipe Band, and has competed in both solo and band competitions at Irish and Scottish games throughout the Northeast. He is also classically trained in piano, flute and composition, with a degree in flute performance from the Aaron Copland School of Music at CUNY. This gives him an ability to easily learn special requests, to adapt non-standard tunes to the bagpipes and Irish whistle, and to arrange and compose accompaniments for the pipes and whistle. He also has an ability to improvise in different styles, which he loves to do on his Celtic instruments!
*Awarded by Gigmasters.com, the leading event-planning website in the U.S.
