Barry Douglas

piano

Barry Douglas was born in Belfast where he studied piano, clarinet, cello and organ. He took lessons from Felicitas LeWinter, who was a pupil of Emil von Sauer, who was in turn trained by Franz Liszt. He also studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with John Barstow and Maria Curcio, who was a pupil of Artur Schnabel.

The impetus to Barry Douglas’s international career began with his win at the International Tchaikovsky Competition in 1986. Today he regularly appears in the USA, Russia, Europe and South America as both a solo recitalist and with outstanding musical groups. In 1999 he started the Camerata Ireland to unite musicians from all of Ireland. After creating the Camerata Ireland, Barry Douglas began to give concerts where he frequently conducted from the piano.

The pianist has recorded a great many albums, among them an integrated set of all Beethoven’s piano concertos (with the Camerata Ireland), Rachmaninov’s concertos (with the Svetlanov State Symphony Orchestra, 2008, on Sony/BMG), Penderecki’s piano concerto (with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Antoni Wit, 2011, on Naxos), and full traversals of the piano works of Brahms and Schubert (2014, on Chandos).

In 2002 Barry Douglas received the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to music.