Classical: Camerata Ireland
Sunday Business Post : December 9th., Reviewed by Dick O’Riordan 
National Concert Hall, Dublin, November 28^th 2007 

The kudos will be thrust in the direction of Camerata Ireland’s dynamic conductor - and soloist in the concerto - Barry Douglas, a musician whose talent, vision and energy has imbued his orchestra with not just a drive for excellence but also self belief, clarity and a sense of restrained proportion were the vital ingredients of the concert, which was attended by President McAleese, co-patron with Queen Elizabeth of Camerata Ireland. She could not have been other than impressed.

This programme, coupling Beethoven’s third piano concerto (regarded as groundbreaking but not one of his best)with his third symphony (the also ground-breaking Eroica and definitely one of his best) had an overall symmetry about it that was deeply satisfying.

The clear-sighted interpretations, carried out with dignified restraint, displayed why Douglas’s star is in the ascendant as a conductor on the global stage. Smouldering good looks and a cool onstage persona will, no doubt, serve him well.

A nice addition to the programme was the introduction of young cellist Brian O’Kane, who this year became the Accenture Camerata Ireland young musician of the year at the Clandeboye Festival. O’Kane, just 22, is a product of Cork School of Music and is on his way to a fine career.

The new year has great things in store for Camerata Ireland, not least government-approved use of the historic Castletown House in Co Kildare as its southern headquarters.

There are also further concerts in France and the little matter of a second coast-to-coast tour of the United States. Exciting times indeed.

Rating: *****