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Fri 05 May 2007Playing to the home crowdPeter Tuite might have dropped off the Irish classical-music radar, but his work in the US has made him an even more accomplished performer, writes Michael Dervan.For a while last year Dublin pianist Peter Tuite was the talk of the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition. He was getting the most flattering of attention. People were upset that he failed to make it past the first round. Many in the audience seemed to have expected him to go further than any of the year's other Irish competitors, yet he fell at the first hurdle. And there was support from the jury, too. There was behind-the-scenes action on this front: he left the competition with a number of concert engagements set up by jury members who liked his playing.