‘We did not own a piano, and every time our voluntary group promoted a concert with a pianist we had to hire one,’ says Connie Tantrum, Festival Director of the New Ross Piano Festival, which runs from 26 to 29 September this year. ‘So somebody said,’ she continues, ‘why not make good use of it when you have it?’ Within one hour – over a glass of wine – the group had worked out the shape of the festival.

The 2013 festival is the eighth edition, and features pianists such as Alexander Bernstein, Finghin Collins (also the festival’s Artistic Director), Nikolay Khozyainov, Denis Kozhukhin and Lilya Zilberstein, as well as the RTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet and the violinist Ilya Gringolts.

‘The biggest initial challenge was to see if experts thought it would work,’ says Tantrum. ‘So I ran it past the Arts Council and Fáilte Ireland, both of whom were very supportive. I had also run the idea [of the festival] past Finghin Collins who had recently bought a house in this area.’ Collins immediately offered to fill the roll of Artistic Director and has been with the festival since.

Tantrum cites funding as one of the festival’s biggest challenges. ‘Until recently we have been very fortunate in getting support from local councils and other statutory bodies. We are finding that in some cases this is now decreasing as their own funds become tighter,’ she says. ‘We have found our Benefactors and Friends to be wonderful financial supporters, and we have a dedicated person in charge of that, the cheerfully positive Eithne Frost.’

Meetings in the Kitchen

The success of the festival across eight years is down to a number of factors, says Tantrum, including the choice of artists and success with funding schemes. The venue at the festival’s disposal is also a key factor. ‘St Mary’s Church has a really good acoustic,’ says Tantrum. ‘It seats about 280, but we can push more in. This is a comfortable number and there is consequently a certain intimacy, which a festival always generates as the events unfold and you meet familiar faces again and again.’ The voluntary nature of the festival organisation has also helped keep the festival afloat. ‘We are a voluntary group, so we don’t have the worry of salaries and other overheads,’ says Tantrum. ‘The meetings are in my kitchen.’

Finghin Collins is crucial to the festival’s success, says Tantrum. ‘Intelligent, organised, charming, business-like, imaginative, always kind and thoughtful,’ she says. ‘His knowledge and contacts have made it the festival that it is. He is ably supported, sometimes challenged, by our chairman John Kissane, who is a walking encyclopedia on classical music and musicians and has an extensive music library.’

The festival is good for the town of New Ross, says Tantrum. ‘Anything that brings extra people in in late September is good for business. But not only business. I think that events such as ours, which is a genuine, focussed festival of a very high quality, help to enhance the image of a place. It also creates a certain sense of pride and confidence.’

What would make the festival organisers’ lives easier? ‘A few young able-bodied men to lift and carry – chairs, lights, portaloos, staging, pianos, signs – would be a god-send in the days leading into the festival, says Tantrum. ‘Otherwise we are OK thanks.’

Download this year’s programme for the New Ross Piano Festival here.