NEW ROSS PIANO FESTIVAL
FROM JAW DROPPING JAZZ TO VIRTUOSO RECITALS, THE FESTIVAL WOWED AUDIENCES
HUNDREDS of classical music lovers descended on New Ross for the 13th New Ross Piano Festival, enjoying music from world renowned and up-and-coming pianists from the south east region.
The Young Pianists Concert has anchored itself firmly in the festival programme and attracts an appreciative and growing audience annually. Pianists aged from as young as eight to 17 performed music ranging from the 17th century to 20th century, along with a fun-filled ‘ Tea for Two’ arranged as a duet to jazz piano and a wonderful Chopin Ballade.
The concert showcased the talent of the south east region and the dedication of students, teachers and parents.
For the second year running a full jazz piano day was incorporated into the piano festival programme. It commenced with a lunchtime concert given by the Phil Ware Trio – Ireland’s leading jazz trio comprising pianist Phil Ware (the festival’s jazz curator), bassist Dave Redmond and drummer Kevin Brady.
The trio played an entertaining set ranging from works of famous jazz composers to their own arrangements of well-known movie tunes. The much-acclaimed Lars Jansson from Sweden presented the evening jazz concert. His highly enjoyable programme included repertoire from the Great American Songbook, some improvisations as well as his own compositions which he also talked about with feeling and good humour.
The piano festival also presented free jazz sessions with Darragh Hennessy on piano and Barry Donohue on double bass. This up-andcoming duo from Dublin performed their music to much appreciation at the Dunbrody Café on the Thursday afternoon and at New Ross Library on the Friday afternoon of the festival.
Waterford pianist Sinead Crowley met several groups of primary school children in the library, showing them the workings of the piano in an exciting manner, and fellow Waterford native Billy O’ Brien gave an educational recital for the second level music pupils of various schools in the area, joined by the public and 40 small students from the Educate Together School.
Billy gave the first performance of a new work by Robert Coleman during this concert and the composer was present to talk about the process of making new music.
Another initiative to involve younger audiences was the masterclass given by Anne-Marie McDermott to two young advanced students on Saturday afternoon in the Pastoral Centre, which was packed out as always.
The Friday evening was the first of the three big concerts featuring five musicians – three wonderful pianists – Alexandra Dariescu lighting up the stage with her radiant smile, Anne-Marie McDermott making her Irish debut and joined at regular intervals during the weekend by some of her 267 Irish relatives, most of whom she had never met, and Finghin Collins, the festival’s Artistic Director.
They were joined by Svetlin Roussev on violin and Marc Coppey on cello for three iconic piano trios. Both of these superb instrumentalists are professors in music conservatories: Svetlin in Geneva and Marc in Paris. This group performed on Saturday evening and Sunday afternoon, with a different programme each time.
There were two very different concerts at noon on Saturday and Sunday – both of them breathtaking. Francois Dumont gripped the audience’s attention with his programme of Bach, Liszt and especially his very moving Debussy, while the Cuban Marcos Madrigal pleased everyone with his wide range of works, including the film music from the Oscar-winning film Fresa y Chocolate, and the popular Epilogo, both by Cuban composers.
The late-night concert, called Labyrinth by its performer David Greilsammer, was inspired by his recurring nightmares of being stuck in a labyrinth and not being able to get out. His work