Carnegie Hall

Camerata Ireland was founded by Barry Douglas in 1999 in response to the historic Good Friday Agreement. His vision was that an all-Ireland orchestra could unite musicians from both sides of the border, embodying the spirit of cooperation and harmony fostered by the agreement. Camerata Ireland’s inaugural performances were on consecutive days in Dublin Castle and Stormont’s Parliament Buildings and, in recognition of the exceptional nature, quality, and purpose of its work, Queen Elizabeth II and President of Ireland Mary McAleese conferred joint patronage in 2004.

Camerata’s achievements over the past 25 years have been extraordinary. At their core is the annual Clandeboye Festival in the historic Clandeboye Estate in County Down, which showcases international soloists and hosts the Camerata Ireland Academy, a young artist mentoring program with an impressive list of alums. The orchestra also performs frequently in a residency at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

With Barry Douglas as director and soloist, the orchestra has toured globally to great critical acclaim—in North and South America, China, and widely throughout Europe, including a Carnegie Hall debut and BBC Proms performance. The orchestra has recorded the complete Beethoven piano concertos and Triple Concerto with Mr. Douglas for Satirino Records. Camerata Ireland is delighted to be commencing its 25th anniversary celebrations with this US tour.

Pianist Barry Douglas has established an international career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. As artistic director of Camerata Ireland and the Clandeboye Festival, he continues to celebrate his Irish heritage while maintaining a busy international touring schedule.

Highlights from last season include a major UK tour with the Estonian National Symphony Orchestra and appearances with the Warsaw Philharmonic and Orchestre National de Lille. In recent seasons, he has performed with orchestras that include the London Symphony Orchestra, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra, Moscow State Symphony Orchestra, Russian National Orchestra, Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, and the Hallé.

Mr. Douglas marked the 30th anniversary of his International Tchaikovsky Competition win with full Tchaikovsky piano concerto cycles with the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin and the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. Also noted for his promotion of contemporary repertoire, he performed the premiere of Kevin Volans’s Fourth Piano Concerto with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the European premiere of Penderecki’s Piano Concerto.

A highly sought after recitalist and chamber musician, Mr. Douglas has given performances around the globe from Royal Albert Hall, Barbican Hall, Wigmore Hall, and the Verbier Festival to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Shanghai Grand Theatre, and other cities in China.

Mr. Douglas is an exclusive Chandos recording artist. He recently completed a six-album recording of Brahms’s complete works for solo piano. International Record Review wrote that “this is indeed Brahms playing of the utmost integrity and authority ... this cycle looks set to become a benchmark version.” His current recording projects focus on the solo piano works of Schubert and Tchaikovsky. Also with Chandos, he is exploring Irish folk music, arranging music from ancient melodies to songs by contemporary composers.

Mr. Douglas was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to music and community relations in the 2021 New Year Honours List. He previously received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2002 New Year Honours List for services to music.

Irish soprano Celine Byrne’s recent highlights include the title role in Madama Butterfly at Bregenz Festival; highly successful concert appearances at Bangkok’s International Festival of Dance and Music alongside José Carreras and Joseph Calleja; a return to Irish National Opera for the role of Micaëla in Carmen, Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, and Mimì in La bohème; and her debut at Staatsoper Hamburg as Mimì.

Past successes include Ms. Byrne’s American opera debut as Magda in La rondine at Minnesota Opera. In Germany at Staatstheater Kassel, she appeared in the title role in Madama Butterfly and revived the role at Irish National Opera in a highly lauded production that included a live television broadcast. She made her debut at Teatro Municipal de Santiago in Chile as the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier, and on her return to Ireland, sang the role of Marietta/Marie in Die tote Stadt with the National Symphony Orchestra at the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

Ms. Byrne made an unexpected Royal Opera House, Covent Garden debut in the title role in Rusalka, which proved to be a great success for the artist; she returned to sing First Blumenmädchen in Parsifal and Micaëla in Carmen. She sang Donna Elvira in Don Giovanni at Israeli Opera conducted by Daniel Oren and directed by Kasper Holten, and the title role in Tosca at the Mikhailovsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

Irish flautist Eimear McGeown has steadily built a reputation as one of the world’s most versatile exponents of both the classical and Irish flutes. She has appeared as a soloist throughout the US, South America, South Korea, Japan, China, the Philippines, Russia, and Europe. Three of her most notable solo performances have been at the BBC’s Last Night of the Proms; Library of Congress in Washington, DC; and Carnegie Hall.

Ms. McGeown launched her debut album, Inis, at the Irish Embassy in London hosted by Ambassador Adrian O’Neill. The genre-breaking album mixes Irish traditional, classical, pop, and original compositions with film arrangements. She has performed her own compositions from it at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC; Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing; and Teatro Coliseo in Buenos Aires.

Ms. McGeown’s diverse credits include recording at the Abbey Road Studios for the world’s largest video game, RuneScape (with more than 200 million players), and for Lord of the Rings in the West End in London. She is involved in the pop music scene and has played support for Ed Sheeran, with Jennifer Hudson on the finale for the TV show The Voice, and on Britain’s National Television Awards. She also played with the rock band Amsterdam at the Glastonbury Festival, and played support to The Pogues in the M&S Bank Arena in Liverpool. In recognition of her achievements in the performing arts, she received an invitation from Her Majesty the Queen to attend a royal reception at Buckingham Palace.