RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra Spring Tour
with Barry Douglas
April 12-14, 2012

Saturday 14 April,
City Hall, Cork, 8pm

BRAHMS Piano Concerto No. 1 in D minor, Op. 15 [44']
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E minor, Op. 98 [39']

Barry Douglas piano/conductor

'The energy and persuasiveness of his solo playing were unflinching' The Irish Times
on Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 with Barry Douglas and the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra, September 2010.

Gold Medal winner at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Moscow, Barry Douglas enjoys an international career as a soloist, recording artist and conductor. As a pianist, he has been praised as much for his 'brilliance', 'technical virtuosity' and 'flawless execution' as for playing which is 'weighty [and] wonderfully intense', 'magical', 'glittering and powerfully sonorous' and emotionally profound.

On tour, this renowned exponent of the Romantic piano repertoire returns to the challenge which he first took on with the RTÉ NSO in 2010: directing Brahms' daring and mighty first piano concerto from the keyboard. He goes on to conduct the Fourth Symphony, Brahms' pinnacle of symphonic achievement showing Brahms the Master, in full song and at the height of his powers: music of bleak but beautiful gracefulness where autumnal mellowness and beauty clash with gravitas and rugged fire, building to a stunning sonic climax.

Saturday 14 April,
City Hall, Cork, 8pm

Tickets: €15, €20, €23 (concessions €12, €18, student €10)
Booking: West Cork Music, 1850 788 789, 027 527 88
Pro Musica, Oliver Plunkett Street, 021 427 1659

OTHER TOUR DATES:
12 April: Leisureland Galway
13 April: University Concert Hall Limerick