![\"Phillip](\"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Phillip-Shovk-sml.jpg\")
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The Balmain Sinfonia completes its 2015 program with a summer afternoon of classical music featuring soloist Philip Shovk playing J S Bach\u2019s Keyboard Concerto No.1. <\/em>Also in the programme are\u00a0J Strauss II\u2019s immortal Blue Danube Waltz<\/em> and Tchaikovsky\u2019s dramatic\u00a0Symphony No. 4 in F minor, opus 36.<\/em>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Conductor and artistic director of the orchestra Gary Stavrou points to the\u00a0freshness and variety of the melodies of Strauss ll’s waltzes, adding\u00a0\u201c The<\/em>\u00a0Blue Danube\u2019s<\/em> striking inventiveness and masterful orchestral technique are felt to capture the Viennese sentiment so well that the work has become an unofficial Austrian national anthem.\u201d<\/p>\n Bach\u2019s Concerto No. 1 has long been the most frequently played of Bach\u2019s solo keyboard concertos and it was performed by Felix Mendelssohn in Berlin in 1832. Tchaikovsky\u2019s Symphony No. 4 invokes the concept of Fate as an inescapable force, with Liszt himself saying \u201cOur only choice is to surrender to it, and to languish fruitlessly.\u201d<\/p>\n Philip Shovk is considered to be one of Australia’s foremost concert pianists, chamber musicians, accompanists and teachers. After initial lessons with Anatole Mirosznyk, he continued his studies with George Humphrey at the Sydney Conservatorium High School from where he graduated with the Frank Hutchens Prize for being the most promising performer of his year. He furthered his studies at the Moscow State Conservatory, studying with Professor Valery Kastelsky (himself a student of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus) and graduating with a Master’s degree in Fine Arts with highest marks in all musical subjects. In 1987 he became a Laureate at the Vianni di Motta competition in Lisbon and in 1988 he was awarded the Hephzibah Menuhin Prize and the Best Australian Pianist Prize at the Sydney International Competition. He was awarded a Best Accompanist prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994.<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/soundslikesydney.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/Balmain_Sinfonia-90-325x217.jpg\")