Pianst Barry Douglas at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall

Apr 18 2008 by Michael Green, Flintshire Chronicle

IRISH pianist Barry Douglas makes a welcome return to The Bridgewater Hall in Manchester, offering piano lovers a programme which reflects some of the core Romantic repertoire.

Douglas will open the concert on Monday, April 21 with Schumann’s Three Romances, intimate lyric miniatures described as “songs without words”.

The programme includes virtuoso works by Liszt (Dante Sonata) and Ravel’s electrifying masterpiece Gaspard de la Nuit.

Schubert’s final Sonata No. 21 in B flat D960 is the summit of the composer’s piano writing, combining his customary expansive lyricism with moments of dark shadow.

Barry Douglas has enjoyed a busy international career since he won Gold at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow.Š

He has performed with many of the world’s major orchestras and is also the founding director of Camerata Ireland, with whom he tours extensively as conductor and pianist.

Last year Douglas won critical acclaim for his performances in London with the BBC Symphony Orchestra and with the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra.Š

Barry Douglas is artistic director of The Bridgewater Hall’s International Piano Festival, and will shortly be announcing plans for Piano 2009 which will take place next February.

Tickets for Barry Douglas’ piano recital at The Bridgewater Hall, part of the Hall’s International Concerts Series, cost from £12 to £27 and can be booked via the box office on 0161 907 9000 or website: www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk.