Glasgow, Scotland - Celtic Connections has announced in a press release the cancellation of its opening concert by piper Carlos Núñez tomorrow, January 11th, 2006.

"It is with deep regret that the Celtic Connections festival announces that the opening concert of the 2006 festival featuring Carlos Núñez has been cancelled," announced the press release.

The organizers gave details about the reasons for the cancellation: "On Friday 6th January we were informed that due to technical reasons Spanish Theatre company La Fura Del Baus could not bring their proposed show in its full capacity to The Glasgow Royal Concert Hall. As this was a completely integrated performance with Carlos Núñez which was set to be both visually and musically spectacular all possible avenues were pursued to try to programme an opening event of equal magnitude. Unfortunately this could not be achieved to the level we desired to ensure all audience members would be satisfied, and it is in these regrettable circumstances that we have had to take the difficult decision to cancel this show."

A highlight of Scotland's cultural calendar, Celtic Connections, now in its thirteenth year, has grown into a very busy festival with over 300 events, at which almost 800 performers will entertain nearly 100,000 audience members. Because of this, scheduling is a huge logistical task. As with all festivals of this size inevitably some of our events will not go ahead as planned.

With over 300 other events taking place in 10 venues around Glasgow over the next 19 days, Celtic Connections 2006 is still on course to be one of the most successful cultural events in Scotland this year.