World-renowned pianist Barry Douglas speaks to Vincent Murphy, ahead of his orchestra Camerata Ireland’s performance at New York’s Carnegie Hall next weekend.
Not every group can boast having the Queen of England and the President of Ireland as its joint patrons.
But Elizabeth II and Mary McAleese have both lent their seal of approval to Barry Douglas and his collection of fine Irish musicians. Camarata Ireland has been touring the globe since it was established in 1999, showcasing talent that is something of a hidden secret in its home country.
“While it’s rightly known for things like U2, the Chieftains, theater and poetry and so on, Ireland is not that well known for classical music,” says Douglas. “I thought the standard of musicianship was so fantastic, that surely if we put a few of our Irish musicians together they could form something really fantastic.”
And that’s just what Douglas did.
Camarata Ireland is an orchestra bringing together talented musicians from the whole island of Ireland. Most of them are young, in their 20s and 30s, but it’s not a youth orchestra, and there are also several established and accomplished members. But Camarata is also about more than music. It brings together musicians from across the political divide in Northern Ireland, and from North and South of the border.
“I think that musicians and artists in general can play a very important part in building bridges between communities,” says Douglas, who was born in Belfast. “I think it’s really important that artists speak up and say all the positive things that are already there. It’s not even creating anything new, there are so many positive things that have happened, and I think we as musicians can play a small part in that as well.”
It was this ambition that caught the eye of the two heads of State, Queen Elizabeth and President McAleese. “That was an acknowledgement and an approval in a sense. They saw that we are trying to understand, trying to create a bit of harmony in a musical sense and a social sense that they approved of it. It was and still is an amazing privilege to have both of them on board.”
The orchestra enjoys a busy touring schedule and has played China, Poland, Great Britain, France, Italy and Germany. It was the first Irish classical music ensemble to play Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires. They will appear at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall on March 5th, on the first stop of its fourth US tour. They will also visit Nashville, Tennessee; Carbondale and River Forest, Illinois; Carmel, Indiana and Winter Park and Sarasota, Florida during this visit to the United States.
And Barry Douglas is planning to treat audiences to “a nice mix”. “We didn’t go for just a solid classical program. I wanted to highlight the Irish nature of the orchestra,” he said. “We are not pretending to be the Chieftains or anything, but I think there is something we can do to express our culture in our particular kind of style.”
The program includes two John Field’s Nocturnes (#1 and #5), which were written for piano, but which Douglas has arranged for piano and orchestra. There will also two Mozart pieces – Porgi Amor from the Marriage of Figaro, and Piano Concerto No 23 in A Major. And there will also be a unique opportunity to hear Bunting’s Druid Dances. “In 1792 there was a huge harp festival in Belfast, organized by a guy called Bunting,” explains Douglas, “and he wrote down all the old Irish melodies. The harpists came from all over Ireland. I’ve incorporated five of those into a set of a suite of dances, from a lamentation to a planxty to a lullaby. I’ve orchestrated that for the orchestra as well.”
The tour also features Ireland’s internationally acclaimed soprano Celine Byrne as a guest artist, and audiences can look forward to renditions of My Lagan Love, Carrickfergus and Last Rose of Summer. Byrne has collaborated with all the modern greats like Jose Carrerras, Roberto Alagna and Andrea Bocelli. “She is fabulous. We worked together a couple of years ago with the National Symphony of Ireland for RTE Television and I was so impressed with her poise and her ability to transcend all sorts of styles,” says Douglas.
Byrne and Douglas both represent the cream of Ireland’s classical music talent. Douglas has enjoyed a major career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. He is in demand across the world and has performed with such leading orchestras as the Berlin Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and all the major London orchestras. The 2010-11 season includes his return to the Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, and solo performances in Germany, Ireland, Britain, France, Scandinavia, Switzerland, Italy, Singapore, China, Thailand, Holland, Spain and the US. He will return to the Proms in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra to perform the premiere of a new concerto written for him by Kevin Volans in celebration of his 50th birthday.
Despite the hectic schedule, he remains passionately committed to Camarata Ireland, and showcasing the phenomenal talent of Ireland’s classical musicians. “The following for Irish traditional culture is very strong, and rightly so,” he says. “But I think some of these musicians deserve to be recognized by a broader public – be that an international public, Irish-American public or Irish public at home. We need to treasure our own musicians, and our own people that achieve something, and make sure they have a name abroad as well.”
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