Acclaimed pianist Barry Douglas ‘buoyed up’ for return to Clandeboye Festival

​He said: “It’s a place of very happy memories for me and of times of great music-making. There is also sadness at the passing some time ago of Lady Dufferin who played a major role in establishing the festival.

“She was an amazing woman, and wanted only the best for Camerata Ireland and the festival.

"She assured me that the Clandeboye support for the Festival and Orchestra would continue through the Dufferin Foundation, and I am most grateful for that, and for the support of all our sponsors.’

The opening concert tonight is named A Celebration of Lady Dufferin in honour of her memory.

The eight-day festival, with the theme Colourful Connections, will include 13 lunchtime and evening concerts, as well as master-classes for young musicians .

Barry Douglas has come back to his home in Lurgan after extensive engagements during the 2023-2024 Season in Australia, Macedonia, the USA, Japan and other places, and he says that he is “buoyed up” for the Clandeboye Festival.

He is now 64, and in an exclusive interview with the News Letter he was asked how he has maintained such energy and enthusiasm within his crowded professional schedule.

He replied: “I have the best job in the world, and I am doing what I love. I get inspiration from the music and the audiences.

“My schedule requires a lot of hard work and detailed planning but it is great to share the enjoyment of music with so many different audiences in so many different parts of the world, and to experiencing them enjoying the music.”

Barry was appointed CBE , and he is particularly delighted at the joint support for Camerata Ireland from King Charles and the Irish President Michael D Higgins.

He said: “I received the CBE from the then Prince Charles, and when his mother died I wrote to him expressing condolences. I was very pleased to be informed later on that as King he was continuing the joint Patronage of the Orchestra with President Michael D Higgins.

"They are carrying on the tradition which began with the late Queen Elizabeth II and the then Irish President Mary McAleese.”

After this year’s Festival he is taking a short holiday with his wife in West Cork. His engagements in the autumn include a Festival in Monkstown Dublin, and a concert with the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast in October., when he will play the Shostakovich Concerto No 1 for Piano, Trumpet and Strings.

He said: “I remember performing this during the pandemic in the Waterfront Hall as a recording for broadcasting on BBC Radio 3. The conductor was Jac van Steen, and I remember we all had to sit metres apart from each other. Happily things have changed since then.”

Other engagements this year include a month-long tour to China with Camerata Ireland, and there are plans for future tours with the Orchestra to South America and Japan.

Barry Douglas has deservedly enjoyed a remarkable international career since winning the Gold Medal and First Prize in the prestigious International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow, but he has also devoted much time and talent in establishing and nurturing his Camerata Ireland Orchestra.

This Ensemble has provided many opportunities for young musicians across Ireland, and so much pleasure to audiences on this island and overseas.

It is entirely fitting therefore that the 25h anniversary of Camerata is being celebrated at this year’s Clandeboye Festival which he and the later Lady Dufferin and others did so much to establish and promote..

The 25th Anniversary will be marked by the performance of a new Northern Ireland Arts Council Lottery Funding commission of a composition by the Belfast composer Gregg Caffrey, and which will feature the Belfast flautist Aisling Agnew.

He said “ Camerata’s music does what all the best music in the world should do, bringing us together in a spirit of hope and positivity.”