Douglas Finch was born in Winnipeg and began improvising, composing and performing on the piano from an early age with the help of his mother. He later continued studying with Winnifred Sim, Jean Broadfoot and at the University of Western Ontario with William Aide. After receiving a Masters from Juilliard in New York under Beveridge Webster, he won several awards and was a laureate at the 1978 Queen Elisabeth Piano Competition.

After moving to London, he co-founded The Continuum Ensemble in 1994 and has collaborated in premiering many new works. He appears regularly with the ensemble at the Spitalfields and other Festivals and at the South Bank Centre, featuring composers such as Julian Anderson, Georges Aperghis, Henri Dutilleux, Charles Ives, Claude Vivier, Errollyn Wallen, Iannis Xenakis and many others.

Douglas Finch has composed for piano, chamber ensemble, orchestra, theatre and film and his score for the feature film Painted Angels, was described in The Independent as ‘an extraordinary triumph of artistic will’.