It was in 1981 that he decided to extend his activities into foreign countries, and entered the Leeds International Piano Competition, in which he was placed sixth. One year later, in July 1982, he won the Joint Silver Medal at the International Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow – then in the Soviet Union. From his success with the Soviet public and musical colleagues he developed a relationship with Russia that is ongoing. In the early years of his solo piano career, Donohoe was in demand by many UK recital series and amateur orchestras. Youth orchestras also played a big part in his activities. In 1970 he had joined the Cheshire Youth Orchestra as a percussionist, eventually becoming its percussion tutor, and also housemaster for several courses. On the first course in 1970 he had also played Prokofiev's First Piano Concerto, as well as being the orchestra's timpanist for the rest of the program. His first significant break with professional orchestras was a result of his regular work as keyboard player with the Hallé, including many performances of the piano part of Stravinsky's Petrushka. The conductor James Loughran offered him an opportunity to give his first solo concerto performance with a professional orchestra in June 1976, the same month in which he graduated from the Royal Northern College of Music and two months before the British Liszt Competition and the Bartók–Liszt Competition. His performance of Rachmaninoff's Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini launched a long-standing relationship with the Hallé, as well as leading to many invitations to perform as soloist with many other British orchestras. He made his London debut at the Purcell Room in 1979, closely followed by his Last Night of the Proms debut in the same year. In 1974 he met the conductor Simon Rattle – then 19 years old and having won the John Player International Conductors' Competition that same week. It was Rattle's first performance of Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring – a piece with which he is known to have a special affinity – and Peter Donohoe was the timpanist. This encounter was to develop across the next 25 years, going on to include several foreign orchestral tours, over 50 concerto performances in cities all over the world and many CD piano concerto recordings. The link with the CBSO and Rattle (Rattle was the CBSO's Principal Conductor 1980–1998) brought about his performance in 2002 at