Clandeboye Festival ends in style with the Camerata Ireland Gala Concert

It was also a balmy summer evening for this social event, which is such an integral

part of the Northern Ireland musical year.

The programme featured two of the more popular works in the classical repertoire.

The distinguished Canarian soloist and composer Gustavo Diaz-Jerez gave a sparkling performance of Haydn’s Piano Concerto in D Major, which was followed shortly afterwards by Beethoven’s Piano Concert No 2 in the very capable control of our own classical star Barry Douglas, the founder of the Orchestra and the Festival.

The first movement of the Haydn and the final movement of the Beethoven were particularly engaging, and the performance of the concertos, without the usual interval, underlined the historical proximity between these two musical giants-Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) and Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827).

The relatively small but elegant Banqueting Hall at Clandeboye is ideally suited to this music which in the early days was heard in similarly intimate venues rather than some of the vast concert halls of today, and the performance of Camerata Ireland had the talent and also enthusiasm of a comparatively young ensemble whose members have a real love for what they are doing.

So many orchestras nowadays seem over-extended and under-rehearsed but this evening in the presence of an appreciative audience was special, and indicative of what it must have been like to share this kind of music from centuries ago but which still remains fresh in the right hands.

Much credit is due to Barry Douglas and the late Lady Dufferin who established the Festival, and to the many outstanding soloists, the Camerata musicians, the administrators, and the funders and audiences who have kept the Clandeboye Festival

alive for the past 24 years.

There is much anticipation already for the 25th Festival at Clandeboye in August 2026 which promises to be an enjoyable landmark for all concerned.