Barry Douglas and Camerata Ireland finish Clandeboye Festival on a high

It featured Barry Douglas and his Camerata Ireland, and the week-long festival was a celebration of the ensemble’s 25th anniversary year of its establishment.

Prior to the start of the festival, Douglas said: “I founded Camerata Ireland to celebrate the Good Friday Agreement by bringing together the most talented young musicians from Ireland, so the joint patronage of King Charles and President Higgins is hugely important, especially in this our Silver Jubilee Year.”

During Saturday’s concert, Douglas said that this year’s festival had been one of the best-ever, with a high musical standards, particularly from the 12 young people who became part of the academy and took part in a series of masterclasses led by distinguished guest soloists.

During the week there were 13 lunchtime, afternoon and evening concerts including two by Camerata Ireland, all taking place in the Banqueting Hall or the Chapel at Clandeboye.

There were many highlights, including a new work titled ‘Environments IV’ by the Belfast composer Gregg Caffrey and featuring flautist Aisling Agnew also from Belfast, to mark the 25 anniversary of Camerata Ireland.

One particular highlight of the week was the solo recital by Douglas in the Banqueting Hall on Thursday evening, featuring Schubert’s Piano Sonata in G dating from 1826 and one of only three performed in his lifetime, as well as several familiar and beautiful Impromptus from his ‘Impromptus Opus 90’, and Prokofiev’s stirring, at times savage but also lyrical ‘Piano Sonata No 7’.

This is one of his ‘war sonatas’ sketched out in 1939 and first performed in 1943 during the Second World War.

This was a protest against Stalin’s brutal repression, which is reminiscent of what is happening in Russia today, and its performance at Clandeboye was a timely reminder of the horrors we continue to witness around the world.

Barry’s recital was a tour de force, and evidence that in his mid-60s he remains a remarkable musician at the height of his powers.

Barry was again to the forefront in the final concert on Saturday, performing Mozart’s brilliant milestone, the ‘Piano Concert No 12’.

In the finale Camerata Ireland showed that they have really come of age with an excellent performance of Tchaikovsky’s timeless ‘Serenade for Strings’.

This was just right for the end of a festival on a summer’s evening, though we haven’t had a summer his year. So it’s forward to Clandeboye in 2025.