BIO: Barry Douglas, the outstanding young concert pianist, speaks quietly but passionately about the island of Ireland which gave him so many of his formative experiences. He was born in Belfast now 40 years ago, educated at Methodist College in Belfast. He quickly established a local reputation as an outstanding musician, but in 1986 he made a major breakthrough by winning the Gold Medal at the Tchaikovsky International Piano Competition in Moscow. He has worked with the world's major orchestras including the Berlin Philharmonic and Leipzig Gewandhaus in Germany, and with the orchestras of Philadelphia, Chicago, Cleveland and Los Angeles in the United States. He is a regular visitor to Ireland where he has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra in Dublin, and the Ulster Orchestra in Belfast. His wife's family live in Lurgan, Co. Armagh, and his mother came from Co. Sligo. Barry Douglas says, "I love humour, For me it alleviates, it underlines, it clarifies. The Irish are comfortable with humour. They have a way with words that maybe goes back to pre-Christian days, I don't know. It's in the genes, there is this facility with words which helps to lighten the burden. Artists are very fortunate because they can move among all sorts of people, and feel completely at home. I can move among Catholics and Protestants and among Northerners and Southerners, and I am accepted. That is a great advantage." In 1998, he and his family were looking for a house in Dublin.