The New Ross Piano Festival commissioned a 3 year project to have 15 Irish composers write new piano works inspired by the 15 panels of the Ros Tapestry, five each year from 2014 to 2016.  The Ros Tapestry is a long-term voluntary scheme where the story of the Normans in this area is told in 15 very large embroidered panels.  The stitching has been done by over 150 volunteers during the past several years, and the result is stunning. The composers are John Kinsella, Elaine Agnew, Gerald Barry, Sebastian Barry, Gerry Murphy, Eric Sweeney, Linda Buckley, Sam Perkin, Deirdre Gribbin, Andrew Hamilton, Raymond Deane, Philip Martin, Grainne Mulvey, Marian Ingoldsby and Garrett Sholdice.  These are a cross-section of Irish composers, in age, gender and experience.  Each of them wrote a 5 minute work and these were each premiered by the five international guest pianists featured in those years.  The relevant tapestries were brought to each concert and this resulted in a greater awareness of the Ros Tapestry project itself.  The commissioning was a major and exciting project, resulting in some varied and thoughtful responses from the composers and from the pianists faced with interesting and challenging new music.

A CD of all the live premieres is available for sale, as are the three volumes of the scores.   In total they make a full-length concert, and it is anticipated that this will be a tempting proposition for the repertoire of Irish pianists in the future.