Faculty & Staff

James MacHattie

Executive Director / Bagpipe Instructor

James is the Executive Director at the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada. He began his piping journey in a youth pipe band in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The formative experiences he had there helped him become one of Canada’s most respected active pipers. 

James played with the Edmonton Caledonia (now Alberta Caledonia) Pipe Band before moving to British Columbia, where he played with the City of Victoria Pipe Band for one year before joining the Simon Fraser University (SFU) Pipe Band. With SFU, he won the World Pipe Band Championship in 1996 and 1999, performed at Carnegie Hall, and participated in two live recordings. In 2000, he moved to Toronto and joined the Toronto Police Pipe Band. In 2004, he became the Pipe Major and led the band to win the North American Championship in both 2004 and 2006. From 2007 to 2009, he played with the 78th Fraser Highlanders before moving back to British Columbia. He played the 2010 season with SFU before relocating to Summerside.

James has enjoyed a successful career as a solo competitor, winning major prizes across Canada, the United States, Scotland, and France. He consistently earns prizes in the Gold Medal contests at Oban and Inverness.

In addition to his performance career, James is an active composer, judge, and teacher, having taught at various schools across Canada. Some of his proudest accomplishments include working with the Robert Malcolm Memorial (Juvenile) Pipe Band from 1998 to 1999, which culminated in the band winning both the Juvenile World Pipe Band and Cowal Championships. He was also part of the instructional team that led the College of Piping Pipe Band to win the 4B World Pipe Band Championship in 2017. In recognition of his contributions, he received the 2022 Music PEI Educator of the Year Award.

James holds a Master of Arts in Classical Studies from the University of British Columbia and a diploma in Public Relations from the University of Victoria. His diverse work experience includes lecturing at the University of Toronto, developing and producing business conferences, and working for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics.

Peter Gallant

Director of the Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre

Peter Gallant is the Director of the Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre at the College of Piping. He joined the team in 2022 and brings a wealth of diverse experience. He dedicated 33 years to teaching and serving as the music director for award-winning show bands, jazz bands, and concert bands at Summerside Intermediate School in Prince Edward Island. Additionally, he held the position of Music Department Head for the provincial school board.

Peter has been teaching guitar for over two decades and was a member of both the PEI Symphony Orchestra and the North York Symphony Orchestra. He also serves as the musical and technical director for the Church of The Nazarene in Summerside. In addition to these roles, he owns and operates “Solo Audio Projects,” where he has mixed shows for artists such as Natalie MacMaster, Matt Andersen, Lennie Gallant, and many others. He has provided sound engineering for events at the Indian River Music Festival, the College of Piping, Small Halls, and Harbourfront Theatre. Moreover, Peter has been the director of Highland Storm since 2018.

His talents and dedication have earned him several recognitions, including:

• Prime Minister’s Award for Excellence in Teaching
• A feature in Canadian Living Magazine’s education article “At the Top of Their Class”
• Music PEI Educator of the Year
• Live Production Professional of the Year
• PEI Teachers’ Federation Honorary Membership Award
• Summerside YMCA Peace Medallion
• Culture Summerside Award of Honour
• Nomination for ECMA Live Sound Professional of the Year

Peter holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Toronto, a Bachelor of Education from the University of PEI, and a Master of Education degree in Information Technology from Memorial University.

Kylie MacHattie

Manager of Marketing and Bagpipe Instructor

Kylie has been a full-time piping instructor at The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada since 2010. She began playing the bagpipes at the age of 7 and has been a member of Grade One bands since her mid-teens. In British Columbia, she played with the Vancouver Ladies, Triumph Street, and Abbotsford Police pipe bands before moving to Ontario in 2000.

In Ontario, she spent six seasons with the Toronto Police Pipe Band and three seasons with the 78th Fraser Highlanders. During this time, she was part of a North American Championship-winning Grade One pipe band on five occasions. In 2010, she joined the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band as well. She is also an accomplished solo competitor.

In 2017, Kylie served as the Pipe Major when her band won the World Championships in Grade 4B at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in English from York University.

Chris Coleman

Drumming Instructor

Since January 2008, Chris Coleman has been the principal drumming instructor at the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada.

He began drumming in 1992 at the Fredericton Academy of Piping and Drumming. Under the tutelage of Brian Freeman and Chris’s father, Dave Coleman, he progressed into the Fredericton Jr. Pipe Band (Gr. 4). Through his years there, the teachings of Matt Carter and Sean Morton also influenced him.

In 1995, Chris was promoted to the Fredericton Society of St. Andrew Pipe Band (Gr. 2) under the leadership of Matt Carter. He later began tutoring at the Fredericton Academy of Piping and Drumming, and by 1998, he was instructing the Fredericton Jr. Pipe Band.

During his drumming career, Chris has achieved many achievements in solo competitions, band competitions, and teaching. He has also traveled throughout North America and Europe, performing and competing. Highlights include several trips to the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, and the Festival Interceltique de Lorient in Brittany.

Chris also teaches the college drumming curriculum and develops and leads drumming workshops throughout the year. Chris composes original drum scores for the Grade 3 and Grade 5 College of Piping bands and the Highland Storm show. Under Chris’s direction in 2011, The College of Piping Pipe Band Grade 4 drummers won the best drum corps title as part of the North American Pipe Band Championship win in Grade 4, and 2012, the band placed 5th at the World Pipe Band Championships in their first year in Grade 3.

Samantha MacKay

Step Dance Instructor

Samantha grew up in Kensington, PEI, loving dance and all things Celtic. She began dancing at age 4 with the Lady Slipper Step Dancers in Kensington and later with the Somerset Steppers in Emerald, PEI. She has also participated in summer camps at the Gaelic College in St Ann’s, Cape Breton.

At 9, she travelled to Ottawa to perform in the Parliament Buildings for a fundraising dinner. She also danced for Governor General Adrienne Clarkson at a young age. In her senior year of high school, she was selected as one of three artists to represent PEI at the 2011 Winter Canada Games in Halifax. She also travelled to Orlando, Florida, to perform with a group in Downtown Disney. 2012, she graduated from the Holland College School of Performing Arts in Charlottetown.

Samantha passed her BATD Associate Step Instructor exam in 2010 and was able to move on to obtaining her Membership Certificate in 2012.

Samantha is thrilled to have the opportunity to attend College and looks forward to the next chapter of her life.

Samantha Lasher

Dance Instructor

Samantha grew up in Belleville, Ontario, and began taking tap and jazz lessons at the age of seven at Tawny’s School of Dance. Later, she also joined classes in hip-hop and acrobatics (acro). By the age of thirteen, she became a helper in the dance company.

To further her dance education, Samantha moved to Charlottetown and enrolled at Holland College, where she took ballet and contemporary dance classes. She graduated from the Dance Performance program in 2017. She fell in love with the island, and the following year, she pursued a degree in Early Childhood Education to gain a deeper understanding of children’s development.

Samantha is excited to join the College of Piping and provide a safe space for children to discover their love for dance.

Laura Johnston

Highland Dance Instructor

Laura grew up in Kinkora, PEI, and began dancing at the College of Piping at the age of four as a step dancer. A year later, she discovered her passion for Highland dancing and studied at the College of Piping for 16 years. In addition to performing at various community events on PEI, Laura has had the privilege of participating in several significant performances with the College. These include:

• The College’s summer production, *Highland Storm*, for nine years.
• Summer mini-concerts at the College from 2012 to 2014.
• The opening ceremonies of the Canada Games held in PEI in 2009.
• A performance for Prince William and Kate in 2011.
• Laura has won medals at many competitions throughout the Maritimes and achieved medal placements at the ScotDance Canadian Championship Series (SDCCS) in 2013, 2015, 2017, and 2019. In 2017 and 2019, during the SDCCS events hosted in PEI and Moncton, she accomplished one of her goals by representing PEI in the Canadian Championships. 

She has been an associate member of the British Association of Teachers of Dancing for seven years and served as the president of ScotDance Prince Edward Island for one year. From 2018 to 2020, Laura was the Highland dance instructor at the College of Piping. This is her second year as the Highland choreographer for Highland Storm. 

Outside of dancing, Laura works as a Resident Care Worker.

Erin Clow

Front Office Manager

Erin was born and raised in Summerside. She has been a Highland Dancer at the College of Piping since 2003. Erin has recently added step dancing to her dancing repertoire. Erin joined the cast of Highland Storm in 2022 as a Highland Dancer. She is excited to join the staff at the College of Piping and will be working in the front office, where she can utilize her post secondary education in Tourism and Travel Management.

Maggie Clarkin

Controller

Maggie joined the College in 2016, bringing over 30 years of financial experience. She has operated her own bookkeeping and office management company for 25 years, serving clients in both the not-for-profit and private sectors.

Joseph Cole

Theatre Tech

Joseph joined the team in March of 2024 to be trained as a theatre tech by Peter, director of the Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre. Originally hailing from the Kensington area, Joseph moved to Summerside to be closer to the theatre. He loves all things music and performing arts. After recieving two awards for musical accomplishment in his school years, Joseph majored in voice during his two years of study at the School of Performing Arts (SoPA) at Holland College, where he honed his abilities/knowledge on music tech, music theory, ear training, performing and much, much more.

 Joseph considers every day at the Scott MacAulay Performing Arts Centre a gift and loves spending time working on sound and lights, graphic design, and anything he is needed for. He is thankful for the opportunities the theatre gives both him and the performers who grace its stage, and he is thankful for Peter and all of the staff who have mentored him.