Charmian & Friends presents: Great Sonatas for Cello & Piano

Two of Australia’s leading chamber musicians, cellist Georg Pedersen and concert pianist Phillip Shovk, are returning to Central Coast Conservatorium of Music in Gosford for a cello and piano concert featuring sonatas by Beethoven, Debussy and Shostakovich.

The afternoon concert in Gosford on Saturday 7 April at 2pm is a Charmian & Friends fundraising concert and will be held at Robert Knox Hall.

The program includes:

Beethoven: Sonata Opus 69 in A Major

• Allegro ma non tanto
• Scherzo: Allegro molto
• Adagio cantabile
• Allegro vivace

Shostakovich: Sonata inD minor Opus 40

• Allegro ma non troppo
• Allegro
• Largo
• Allegro

Debussy: Sonata for Cello and Piano

• Prologue: Lent, sostenuto e molto risoluto
• Serenade: Moderement anime, Fantasque et leger
• Anime: leger et nerveux

About Georg Pedersen

Danish cellist Georg Pedersen has given well over 3000 concerts in 24 countries, has recorded on 12 different labels, and is broadcast all over the world. For 11 years he was solo cellist with the Royal Danish Philharmonic. During this time he was also a member of the Copenhagen Chamber Soloists and the Dania String Quartet.

After university positions in Auckland, Adelaide and Melbourne, Georg Pedersen has been at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Sydney University, since 1985. An internationally sought after teacher, his students regularly win top prizes in international, national and state competitions, as well as in Eisteddfods, and go on to study with the best teachers in the world.

Georg has performed all the great cello concertos with major orchestras around the world. He has been guest principal cellist with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Australian Opera and Ballet Orchestra, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra. He has played with The Sydney String Quartet, The Soloists of Australia, The Sydney Trio, The Australian Trio, The Australia Ensemble, Flederman, The Kobets Quartet, The Pini-Hazelwood concerts, The Ku-Ring-Gai Virtuosi, The Melbourne Chamber Orchestra, The Adelaide Chamber Orchestra, and many others.

He has given recitals and master classes in Europe, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and Singapore. Georg has also commissioned and premiered many new works from Australian composers, with grants from Australia Council. He continues to travel for Musica Viva and the Department of Foreign Affairs, broadcasts regularly for the ABC, and gives every year many concerts in Australia and abroad.

About Philip Shovk

Phillip Shovk is considered to be one of Australia’s foremost concert pianists, chamber musicians, accompanists and pedagogues. 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 then furthered his studies at the Moscow State Conservatory, studying with Professor Valery Kastelsky (himself a student of the legendary Heinrich Neuhaus) and graduating as a Master of 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 at the Sydney International Competition, where he was awarded the Hephzibah Menuhin Prize and the Best Australian Pianist Prize. He was awarded a Best Accompanist prize at the Tchaikovsky Competition in 1994.

He has performed to great acclaim in Russia, Georgia, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Singapore, New Zealand, China, USA, Spain, Norway and the UK.

Phillip Shovk has also adjudicated at many of Australia’s leading competitions including the Sydney International Piano Competition, Sydney Eisteddfod, Yamaha Youth Competition, Hephzibah Menuhin Competition and others. He has also been a jury member of Concours Animato in Paris, the New Zealand National Concerto Competition and the Singapore National Piano Competition and has taught at the Conservatoire Rachmaninoff in Paris, the Australian Institute of Music and Chetham’s School of Music in Manchester, and is presently Lecturer in Piano and Accompaniment at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music.

He has released 2 CDs – Tchaikovsky and Mussorgsky on the Master Performer’s label and Mozart Violin Sonatas arranged for 2 pianos with colleague Daniel Herscovitch for Toccata Classics.

Tickets: $55, Under-16s free

Booking: www.trybooking.com/CPSDD