Douglas Rogers is highly regarded for his pathbreaking reserarch on and performance of the 19th century concertina repertoire. For all his work on guitar, concertina and banjo he received in 2004 the title of Associate of the Royal Academy of Music.

He has lectured and performed on the concertina in Europe, North America and the Middle East, and he has written a series of biographical articles about Giulio Regondi published in The Guitar Review and in The Royal Academy of Music Magazine. Rogers has also broadcast on radio and television both in recital and as a concerto solist, giving performances of little known 19th century repertoire and recently composed concertina music.

He commisioned several works by Keith Amos and Oliver Hunt wrote "Song of the Sea" for him.

Primarily a guitarist, Rogers taught the Guitar at the London College of Music and as the pioneer of the come back of the classical concertina music, he was the first to coach a student, Pauline de Snoo to a BMus degree on concertina, at Fontys Conservatorium in the Netherlands.