Philip Francis Fowke studied at the
Royal Academy of Music (RAM) with
Gordon Green, a pupil of
Egon Petri. In 1974 he made his London debut with a recital at the
Wigmore Hall (Beethoven, Schumann, Bartók and Liszt). That year he won joint second place at the BBC Piano Competition (first place was not awarded). This led to broadcasts on BBC radio in a performance of
Rachmaninoff's
Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini. In 1977, he was 5th placed finalist in the inaugural
Sydney International Piano Competition. He entered the
International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow but was not a finalist. Fowke made his
Proms debut in 1979 with a performance of
John Ireland’s
Piano Concerto in E-flat major, with the
BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under
Simon Rattle. He played Sir
Arthur Bliss's
Piano Concerto at his United States debut in
San Diego in 1982. His recitals of traditional repertoire often end with lighter pieces such as
Adolf Schulz-Evler’s
Arabesques on themes from "An der schönen blauen Donau". He has toured in many countries and has played under conductors such as
Vladimir Ashkenazy,
David Atherton,
Rudolf Barshai,
Norman Del Mar, Sir
Alexander Gibson, Sir
Charles Groves,
Vernon Handley,
Neeme Järvi,
Tadaaki Otaka,
Gennady Rozhdestvensky,
Yuri Temirkanov,
Klaus Tennstedt and
Barry Wordsworth. ==Premiere performances and recordings==