Barry Douglas |

Barry douglas

World fame came to the Irish pianist Barry Douglas in 1986, when he received the Gold Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow.

The pianist has performed with all the world’s leading orchestras and collaborated with such renowned conductors as Vladimir Ashkenazy, Colin Davis, Lawrence Foster, Maris Jansons, Kurt Masur, Lorin Maazel, André Previn, Kurt Sanderling, Leonard Slatkin, Michael Tilson-Thomas, Evgeny Svetlanov, Mstislav Rostropovich, Yuri Temirkanov, Marek Yanovsky, Neemi Jarvi.

Barry Douglas was born in Belfast, where he studied piano, clarinet, cello and organ, and led choirs and instrumental ensembles. At the age of 16, he took lessons from Felicitas Le Winter, a pupil of Emil von Sauer, who in turn was a student of Liszt. Then he studied for four years at the Royal College of Music in London with John Barstow and privately with Maria Curcio, a student of Arthur Schnabel. In addition, Barry Douglas studied with Yevgeny Malinin in Paris, where he also studied conducting with Marek Janowski and Jerzy Semkow. Prior to his sensational victory at the International Tchaikovsky Competition, Barry Douglas was awarded the Bronze Medal at the Tchaikovsky Competition. Van Cliburn in Texas and the highest award at the competition. Paloma O’Shea in Santander (Spain).

Today, Barry Douglas’ international career continues to evolve. He regularly gives solo concerts in France, Great Britain, Ireland, the USA and Russia. Last season (2008/2009) Barry performed as soloist with the Seattle Symphony (USA), the Halle Orchestra (UK), the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Berlin Radio Symphony, the Melbourne Symphony (Australia), the Singapore Symphony. Next season, the pianist will perform with the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Brussels Philharmonic Orchestra, the Chinese Philharmonic, the Shanghai Symphony, as well as the St. Petersburg Symphony Orchestra in the northern capital of Russia, with whom he also will be on tour in the UK.

In 1999, Barry Douglas founded and directed the Irish Camerata Orchestra and has since successfully established an international reputation as a conductor. In 2000-2001, Barry Douglas and the Irish Camerata performed the symphonies of Mozart and Schubert, and in 2002 they presented a cycle of all Beethoven’s symphonies. At the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in Paris, B. Douglas and his orchestra performed all of Mozart’s piano concertos for several years (Barry Douglas is the conductor and soloist).

In 2008, Barry Douglas made a successful debut as a conductor and soloist with the St. Martin-in-the-Fields Academy Orchestra at the Mostly Mozart Festival at the Barbican Center in London (in the 2010/2011 season he will continue to collaborate with this band while touring the UK and the Netherlands) . In the 2008/2009 season he performed for the first time with the Belgrade Philharmonic Orchestra (Serbia), with whom he will continue to collaborate next season. Barry Douglas’ other recent conducting debuts include concerts with the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (USA), the Novosibirsk Chamber Orchestra and I Pommerigi di Milano (Italy). Each season, Barry Douglas performs with the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, performing a cycle of all Beethoven’s symphonies. In the 2009/2010 season, Barry Douglas will make his debut with the Romanian National Chamber Orchestra at the Festival. J. Enescu, with the Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra (Canada). With the Irish Camerata, Barry Douglas regularly tours Europe and the United States, performing each season in London, Dublin and Paris.

As a soloist, Barry Douglas has released numerous CDs for BMG/RCA and Satirino records. In 2007 he completed the recording of all of Beethoven’s piano concertos with the Irish Camerata. In 2008, recordings of Rachmaninov’s First and Third Concertos, performed by Barry Douglas in conjunction with the Russian National Orchestra conducted by Evgeny Svetlanov, were released on Sony BMG. Also last season, a recording of Reger’s concerto with the Philharmonic Orchestra of Radio France conducted by Marek Janowski, released on the same label, was awarded the Diapason d’Or. In 2007, Barry Douglas presented the first series of “Symphonic Sessions” on the Irish Broadcasting Company (RTE), programs dedicated to what happens in the artistic life “behind the scenes”. On these programs, Barry conducts and plays with the RTE National Orchestra. Maestro is currently recording a program for BBC Northern Ireland dedicated to young Irish musicians.

The merits of B. Douglas in the art of music are marked by state awards and honorary titles. He was awarded the Order of the British Empire (2002). He is an honorary doctor of the Queen’s University Belfast, an honorary professor at the Royal College of Music in London, an honorary doctor of music from the National University of Ireland, Mainus, and a visiting professor at the Dublin Conservatory. In May 2009, he received an Honorary Doctorate of Music from the University of Wyoming (USA).

Barry Douglas is Artistic Director of the annual Clandeboye International Festival (Northern Ireland), the Manchester International Piano Festival. In addition, the Irish Camerata conducted by Barry Douglas is the main orchestra of the festival in Castletown (Isle of Man, UK).

Source: Moscow Philharmonic website