"My Concerto for oboe and strings was written at the request of Jeffrey Crellin, principal oboe of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra. He gave the first performance on Tuesday August 19th 1997, with Australia Pro Arte, at Melba Hall, Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. The piece has since been performed by Jeffrey and the Geelong Chamber Orchestra, the Melbourne Symphony, and the Christchurch SO.

The concerto is one continuous movement about 12 minutes in length, but containing three easily discernible sections. The first part is fairly slow. After a broad and contrapuntal opening by the strings, the oboe enters, and the music continues in a lyrical vein. Eventually, the tempo increases somewhat, and the second section, a mostly contrapuntal passage, leads to a brief cadenza for the soloist. This eventually leads into to the last section, an allegro. Here, the music is more urgent and virtuosic. At one point the allegro is interrupted by a brief reminder of the slower music of the first section, before the allegro returns, and the work ends in an energetic and driving coda." 

Czaplowski - Concerto for Oboe & Strings

Philip Czaplowski (born 1958) is an Australian composer.

Czaplowski was born in London in 1958, and emigrated to Australia with his family in 1969. He lives in Melbourne, where he completed a PhD in music composition at Monash University (2007). During 2005 he also attended the Academy of Music in Kraków, Poland, where he worked with Zbigniew Bujarski, Krystyna Moszumańska-Nazar, Wojciech Widłak, and Anna Zawadska-Gołosz.

Philip's music is modern but approachable, eclectic but not conservative. "Although I try to write music that is obviously of our time, the most important aspect of composition for me is expression. For me composition is very much a form of communication, allowing me to express my thoughts and feelings."

Performers of Philip's music include the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, Christchurch Symphony Orchestra, the New York Miniaturist Ensemble, Orquestra Antunes Câmara, Australia Pro Arte, the Canberra Wind Soloists, the Chamber Strings of Melbourne, Geelong Chamber Orchestra, the Australian Chamber Soloists, Australia Felix, the Monash Festival Orchestra, Kazimierz Dawidek, Harry Sparnaay, Prue Davis, James Strauss, Jeffrey Crellin, Carla Rees, and many of Australia’s leading musicians.

Philip Czaplowski’s music has featured in a number of festivals including the Encuentros Festival Internacional (Brazil 1995), International Double-Reed Society Conference (Arizona 1998), Federation Music Week (Melbourne 2000), Sonorities Festival of Contemporary Music (Belfast 2003), Szymanowski Festival 2003 (XXVI Dni Muzyki Karola Szymanowskiego, Poland), International Double-Reed Society Conference (Melbourne 2004), the Melbourne International Festival of Single Reeds (2005), and the Cortona Contemporary Music Festival (Tuscany, Italy 2006).

Czaplowski - Concerto for Oboe & Strings

Philip Czaplowski - Composer