Musicians 2025
Patrick Rafter
Violinist and Conductor
Patrick Rafter is recognised and celebrated as one of Ireland's foremost classical musicians, acclaimed for his mastery of the violin and extraordinary musicianship. Rafter has taken to the stage as a soloist, director, conductor, and recitalist across Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia. Garnering over a hundred prestigious awards, including the National Concert Hall Young Musician of the Year (Ireland), Clandeboye Festival Young Musician of the Year (UK), Valiant Violin Competition (Switzerland), London Performing Arts Competition (2017), RDS Music Bursary (Ireland), Dublin Feis Ceoil Conducting Competition (2022), and the Royal Academy of Music Sir Curtis Price Award (UK), Patrick has firmly established himself as one of Ireland’s leading classical musicians.
As a violinist, Patrick has performed as a soloist with many of the world's notable orchestras and ensembles including Prague Philharmonia, Mannheim Soloists, National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, RTE Concert Orchestra, Kyiv Soloists, and Camerata Ireland. He has performed in some of the most prestigious concert halls such as the National Concert Hall Ireland, Royal Albert Hall London, Berlin Konzerthaus, Concertgebouw Amsterdam, and Seoul Arts Centre. Patrick boasts a longstanding collaboration with esteemed Irish pianist, Fiachra Garvey, culminating in the highly anticipated release of their inaugural recording released in December 2024 presented under the prestigious Rubicon Classics label in London.
A protege of the legendary violinist, Maxim Vengerov, Patrick was born into a musical family in Kilkenny, Ireland. His father, Paddy, is a tenor and his mother, Maura, is a pianist. In 2021, Patrick was awarded a Conducting Fellowship with the UCD Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Choir. In 2022, he conducted the RTE Concert Orchestra and was awarded 1st prize in the Dublin Feis Ceoil National Conducting Competition.
As a choral conductor, Patrick has worked with many of Ireland’s leading choirs including the Chamber Choir Ireland and UCD Philharmonic Choir. He is the Principal Conductor of The Kilkenny Choir - a 110-person SATB Choir. He was formerly associate conductor of the UCD Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Choir 2021 - 2022 and served as conductor of Carlow Voices from 2020 to 2023.
Patrick performs on a Jean Baptiste Vuillaume violin, made in Paris in 1842 and a 1925 Eugene Sartory bow, generously sponsored by the Music Network Capital Scheme and a private anonymous sponsor from Switzerland.
Follow Patrick on Instagram and Facebook or visit www.patrickrafter.com for more information and news. To follow his festival in Ireland, visit www.marblecitymusicfestival.com
Barry Douglas
Pianist
Barry Douglas has established a major international career since winning the Gold Medal at the 1986 Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition, Moscow. As Artistic Director of Camerata Ireland, the only all-Ireland orchestra and the Clandeboye Festival, he continues to celebrate his Irish heritage whilst also maintaining a busy international touring schedule.
In recent seasons, Barry has performed with orchestras including the London Symphony, Estonian National Symphony, Warsaw Philharmonic, Orchestre National de Lille, Nuremberg Symphony, and Staatskapelle Halle, among others.
Barry marked the 30th anniversary of his Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition win with full Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto cycles with the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin and the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast.
Barry performed the premiere of Kevin Volans’ fourth piano concerto with the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group and the European premiere of the Penderecki Piano Concerto. A highly sought-after recitalist and chamber musician, he has given performances across the globe from Royal Albert Hall, Barbican and Wigmore Hall and the Verbier Festival to the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing, Grand Theatre in Shanghai and other cities in China. In addition to North American and Chinese recital tours, Barry will continue to perform in recitals throughout Europe.
Barry is an exclusive Chandos recording artist. He recently completed a six-album recording of the full works for solo piano of Brahms. 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, Tchaikovsky, and Liszt. Also with Chandos, Barry is exploring Irish folk music through his own arrangements, working with ancient melodies through to pieces by contemporary song writers.
In January 2021 Barry 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’s Honours List for services to music.
The Irish Doctors Orchestra
The Irish Doctors Orchestra (IDO) is a unique all-island fellowship of medical professionals who are also classically trained musicians. The concept of the IDO provides an opportunity for medics from across Ireland to get together and create music as a therapy to the stresses and challenges we all face in our professional lives.
It follows in the footsteps of other doctors’ orchestras such as European Doctors Orchestra (founded 2004), Australian Doctors Orchestra (founded 1993) and World Doctors Orchestra (founded 2008).
We join together for rehearsals over a period of days which includes coaching by professional musicians and culminates in a public performance. Venue hire, professional coaching and other costs are all financed by the participating doctors which allows proceeds from the concert to be donated to a local nominated charity in the city of the concert
The IDO formed in 2020 and despite a staggered start under the pandemic, we finally met in person for our first live performance in Belfast in May 2022. Since then, we have performed in Dublin and Limerick and returned to Belfast in March 2023 where we joined forces with the choirs of St Dominic’s Grammar School and St Malachy’s College in the magnificent setting of the Ulster Hall. Our most recent concert took place in Waterford in September 2024.