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Philip Fowke

Emeritus Fellow - Piano

Music

Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance
Faculty of Music
King Charles Court
Old Royal Naval College
Greenwich
London
SE10 9JF

Tel: +44 (0)20 8305 4444

Email: p.fowke@trinitylaban.ac.uk

'...that co-existence of a high musical intellect with elegance, wit and unashamedly joyful showmanship, marks out Philip Fowke among his own generation of pianists...'

The Times
philip fowke

Biography

Philip Fowke, known for his many BBC Promenade Concert appearances, numerous recordings and broad range of repertoire, has appeared in many of the major concert halls worldwide with leading conductors including Vladimir Ashkenazy, Sir Simon Rattle and Gennady Rozhdestvensky.

Philip Fowke has made recordings for EMI, Lyrita, Unicorn, CRD, Chandos and Naxos. These include the concertos of Addinsell, Bliss, Delius, Hoddinott, Rachmaninov, Ravel and Tchaikovsky. He has also made solo records including works by Bliss, Chopin and an album of piano transcriptions. Chamber music has also featured in his CD portfolio, including his recording with The Prince Concert for Linn Records in which he and Stephen Hough both partner Alisdair Hogarth on the piano. This recording received outstanding acclaim, and was nominated CD of the month by Gramophone Magazine. Works by Cyril Scott and Alan Bush were also made with the London Piano Quartet. He has also recorded the Piano Sonata No. 3 and Tango by the late Antony Hopkins CBE in celebration of the composer’s 90th birthday, for which he also received exceptional reviews. His recordings of Rachmaninov’s Piano Concerto No. 2 and Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov on EMI have been re-released as has his recording on EMI of the Complete Chopin Waltzes and Sonatas.

Philip Fowke, aside from his solo work, has performed with The Prince Consort at Wigmore Hall and the Purcell Room. In addition, he appeared with them at the Cheltenham Festival, and at the Concertgebouw Hall in Amsterdam in a concert broadcast live on Netherlands Radio. As the pianist in the London Piano Quartet, he made recordings of works by Cyril Scott and Alan Bush. Highlights in 2014 included a recital and classes at Lynn University in Florida USA, and also at the 16th Oxford Philomusica Piano Festival and Summer Academy. He performed in Tokyo at the Musashino Hall in February 2015 and in March performed Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 12, K.414 and the Addinsell Warsaw Concerto at the Chichester Festival Theatre with the BBC Concert Orchestra which was broadcast on BBC Radio 3. In 2016, he was invited to give classes and a recital at the Young Siew Toh Conservatory in Singapore. A further recent highlight was tutoring and giving a recital at the Chetham’s International Summer School and Festival for Pianists. A return invitation was made for 2017 and he gave recitals in Auckland and Blenheim, New Zealand in November.

For more information, visit Philip’s agent’s website.

Philip Fowke

Richard Addinsell - Warsaw Concerto

Teaching

Philip Fowke has had a distinguished teaching career beginning at the Royal Academy of Music where he was a professor from 1984 to 1989 and was awarded the F.R.A.M. After teaching at the Welsh College of Music and Drama he became Head of Keyboard at Trinity College of Music in 1994; he is now Professor Emeritus at Trinity Laban. He is widely acclaimed for his imaginative teaching, coaching and tutoring in which he explores students’ potential, encouraging them to develop their own individuality and find ways to practise effectively and economically. He avoids methods and systems preferring a more enquiring, creative approach. He continues to be in great demand as a teacher and is frequently invited to adjudicate and lecture on a wide range of musical and pianistic topics. He is also an experienced examiner and is currently external specialist at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama.

Creative Outputs

  • The Complete Chopin Waltzes
  • The Chopin Sonatas
  • Piano Transcriptions
  • The works of Sir Arthur Bliss
  • Various concertos of Addinsell, Bliss, Delius, Rachmaninoff, Ravel and Tchaikowsky for EMI, Unicorn, CRD, Chandos and Naxos

Reviews

…that co-existence of a high musical intellect with elegance, wit and unashamedly joyful showmanship, marks out Philip Fowke among his own generation of pianists…‘ The Times

Claudio Arrau was to have been the soloist in tonight’s Promenade Concert. The virtuosity and acute musicianship of Philip Fowke, who took his place, repaired the omission in no uncertain terms.’ The Daily Telegraph