FANTASTIC NEW ROSS PIANO FESTIVAL FINISHES WITH A FLOURISH
WITH the dramatic sound of Hungarian gypsy dances, the 12th New Ross Piano Festival came to a breathtaking stop on Sunday evening.
This year the festival took on a slightly Hungarian theme with two Hungarian pianists, two Hungarian chamber musicians and an Hungarian journalist.
The importance of the festival was emphasised by the fact that the Hungarian Ambassador and his wife stayed at the Brandon House Hotel from Thursday and attended all the events.
Visitors came from all over Ireland, Australia, France, Switzerland, the UK and Northern Ireland to the festival which is one of the premier music festivals in the country and equal to any in England.
The festival is renowned for featuring a wonderful mix of established names and young aspiring pianists from around the globe who are winning international competitions.
Another theme of the festival is jazz and this year the genre was given more prominence, and audiences travelling from Dublin especially for the lunchtime concert with Phil Ware. On Wednesday evening one of the top five jazz pianists in the world, Enrico Pieranunzi, performed in St Mary’s Church, a night which few will forget because he combined brilliant piano playing with witty and informed commentary.
The Festival also has always tried to include young people in the activities and piano teacher Sinead Crowley met with primary school students in the library while one of Ireland’s new generation of professional pianist, Sean Morgan-Rooney, spoke to second level music students about his life in music so far and played a lot of short works.
For many of them it was the first time they attended a proper classical concert which was a completely different experience to them from listening to recorded music.
At the third level two lucky advanced piano students got a masterclass from Klara Wurtz. This was a very interesting session which the public can sit in on and as usual it was a full house.
The seven main classical concerts were well attended, with many people who have been to all the 12 festivals, but also a lot of new faces.
Other side events including a performance by one pianist in New Haughton Hospital and a lunchtime event in Lake Region which saw a pianist play in the PLAY ME piano which the committee had installed for the duration.
Jazz legend Myles Drennan came with his bass player Dave Fleming and played in the library and in the Dunbrody Visitor Centre, and the PLAY ME pianos were left round town for anyone to have a go.
Organiser Connie Tantrum said the festival had been a brilliant success which had raised the profile of the town significantly.