Barry Douglas enjoys a major international career, which has developed worldwide since he won the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.
The orchestras with whom he has worked include Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus in Germany, the orchestras of Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and Los Angeles in the United States, both NHK and Tokyo Symphonies in Japan, Israel Philharmonic and all the major London orchestras. He has collaborated with many eminent conductors including Ashkenazy, Davis, Masur, Maazel, Tilson Thomas and Jansons.
Barry Douglas is particularly known for his performances of the large-scale Romantic repertoire including Brahms, Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky and he also excels in less familiar concerti such as those by Reger, Britten and Corigliano. These last three works he has recorded for BMG: the Reger Concerto coupled with the Strauss Burlesque with Marek Janowski and Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, was awarded the Diapson d’Or.
His current engagements include BBC National Orchestra of Wales / Hickox (Britten), Finnish Radio Symphony / Ono (Brahms #1), Hallé Orchestra / Berglund, La Fenice Orchestra / Temirkanov (Mozart K482), Montreal Symphony, Netherlands Radio Philharmonic / Renes, Orchestre National de France / Slatkin (Gershwin), Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France / Saraste (Rachmaninov #2), Royal Liverpool Philharmonic / Vasary (Beethoven #5), and the opening concert of the Dresden Philharmonic Orchestra’s season with Marek Janowski in which he performs all three concerti by Bartok.
Barry Douglas included the Bach Goldberg Variations in his recital programmes during 2001, the “Bach year”, and he performed them throughout Europe and the USA. This season sees a major residency at the City of London Festival, where he will perform three recital programmes, each featuring the work of Liszt, Beethoven and a Russian composer.
An exciting new venture for Barry Douglas is Camerata
Ireland, an all-Irish chamber orchestra that he founded with players from both Northern and Southern Ireland to celebrate, in his own words, “the wealth of Irish musical talent”. 2001 saw the orchestra give a gala concert for President Bill Clinton at the Waterfront Hall in Belfast, which was the subject of a Landseer Productions television documentary. As Music Director of the orchestra, Douglas will be directing / playing performances this season with the orchestra in North America, South America and in Europe. They will also perform one concert at the City of London Festival.
He will conduct several concerts with Orchestra of St Cecilia in Dublin. One concert will include two Schubert Symphonies, and later in the season he will also undertake a Beethoven Symphony cycle at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.
Barry Douglas received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the New Year’s Honours List 2002 “for services to music”. He lives in Paris with his wife and three young children.
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