Clandeboye Festival celebrates its 25th year with gala concert and dinner

​Earlier this week the festival director, Barry Douglas, launched a book about the history of the Clandeboye Festival and its resident orchestra Camerata Ireland which was established by Barry in 1999 as a response to the Good Friday Agreement.

My new book titled ‘Clandeboye Festival; Celebrating 25 Years’ pays tribute to Barry Douglas, and states in the foreword: ‘There are no words to adequately describe the success stories of the Clandeboye Festival and Camerata Ireland. Music has a powerful language of its own but it is important to provide a history in book form, and this has now been achieved for the first time.’

Barry Douglas said: “I congratulate everyone who has been involved with the writing and production of this important publication.”

This year also marks the 40th anniversary of Barry’s triumph in Moscow when he won the Tchaikovsky Piano Competition which started his stellar international career, playing in most of the great concert halls and with the greatest orchestras in the world.

However he also found time to found Camerata Ireland, just after the Good Friday Agreement.

He said “ I was impressed by what had been achieved, and I felt that we as musicians in Ireland from north and south, should recognise the great achievement of those who had brought about the Good Friday Agreement after such a long period of turmoil, violence and political deadlock."

Barry also founded the Clandeboye Festival in 2001, in co-operation with Lady Dufferin, and it has gone on from strength to strength. Sadly she died in 2020.

Barry said: “We were good friends, and she made a huge contribution to the festival. She is sadly missed.”

Over the years, many young musicians have been mentored at Clandeboye by seasoned international professionals who also perform during the series of concerts and recitals.

Barry said: “Our young students are at that beautiful threshold in their artistic journeys where they will build a future which will be with all of us for years to come.”

This year, however, there were no young musicians or master-classes.

Barry said: “We brought back many of our young artists from the past, and audiences have had an opportunity to find out how well they are playing, and how their careers have developed.”

This week has been a success at Clandeboye with large attendances, and first-class music including the recital by Douglas in which he displayed an astonishing virtuosity in performing works by Russian composers, to a prolonged standing ovation.

There are many other bright notes currently in the Northern Ireland classical music world.

Recently the excellent Ulster Youth Orchestra performed a concert at the Young Euro Classical Festival in Berlin, to the acclaim of the German press.

On Sunday week last they performed the same programme in the Ulster Hall, on the day after returning from Berlin, and acquitted themselves admirably under Jac van Steen, the principal guest conductor of the Ulster Orchestra.

This year of musical landmarks also includes the 60th anniversary of the Ulster Orchestra, and they are celebrating this at the opening of their new season, and also introducing their exciting new chief conductor, the German-Colombian, Anna Handler.

There are many other kinds of music which are alive and well in Northern Ireland, and this includes the fleadh in Belfast earlier this month which exceeded all expectations.

Every nook and cranny on the city was alive with Irish music and dancing, and this was enjoyed by many thousands of people from different backgrounds, including many from the Protestant community.

It was noteworthy that several Protestant churches took part, including St Anne’s Cathedral, St George’s Church of Ireland in High Street, and the First Presbyterian (Non-Subscribing) Church in Rosemary Street.

One of the most significant events of all was the Belfast bands display at the Titanic slipways at Belfast Harbour in the presence of the Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin, and also the performance at the city hall by the Shankill Defenders Flute Band who said they were “overwhelmed” by their reception.

Much credit is due to the fleadh organisers who invited these bands to take part, and also to the bandsmen who grasped the opportunity to do so. The fleadh no doubt will be bigger and better next year.

This summer there has been much else to celebrate in the musical life of Belfast, including a series of BBC Invitation concerts by the Ulster Orchestra.

So often we allow ourselves to become depressed by the sporadic violence here, and by the political back-biting and deadlock, but the sounds of music in the air remind us of the better times, so let’s learn to listen to the harmony all around us.

There’s a lot more to, and a lot better in, Northern Ireland than you might think.