Hailed as a supremely talented and genuine artist, Barry Douglas is one of the most versatile and brilliant pianists of today. Active as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, conductor, and festival director, his artistry has been acclaimed by critics and audiences worldwide.
Mr. Douglas first received international recognition as the winner of the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow in 1986—the only non-Russian since Van Cliburn to win the prestigious award—and the Bronze Medal at the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition in 1985. He has since appeared as soloist with many of the world’s foremost orchestras, including the Berlin Philharmonic; Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles orchestras; Tokyo Symphony; Israel Philharmonic, and all the major London orchestras.
Highlights of his 2009-10 season include return engagements with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and Vancouver Symphony and debuts as perormer and conductor with the Moscow State Philharmonic. In the U.S., he appears with the Atlanta, Nashville, Alabama, and Columbus symphonies.
Mr. Douglas serves as artistic director of the International Piano Festival held at Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, the Clandeboye International Festival, and the Camerata Ireland at Castletown Series Festival. He is music director of the chamber orchestra Camerata Ireland, which he founded in 1999, and will celebrate the orchestra’s tenth anniversary with a world tour.
He is also establishing a worldwide reputation as a conductor. In 2008 he began his tenure as one of the chief guest conductors of the Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra. Recent and upcoming conducting debuts include those with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields at the Mostly Mozart Festival.
A native of Ireland, he studied at the Belfast School of Music and began conducting at an early age. At sixteen he began piano lessons with Felicitas LeWinter, who inspired him to become a pianist. He was awarded a scholarship to the Royal College of Music, where he studied with John Barstow, and he later studied privately with Maria Curcio and Yvegeny Malinin. Mr. Douglas makes his home in Paris and Lurgan, Ireland, with his wife and three children.
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