Philip Arkinstall

Philip has been the associate principal clarinet of the Melbourne Symphony Orchestrasince 2009 and was principal with the Malaysian Philharmonic for 11 years before that. After completing his Bachelor of Music at The Sydney Conservatorium under Peter Jenkin he went on to win the ABC young performers award in 1997 playing the Francaix Concerto with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and was the 2MBS FM radio performer of the year in 1996. Philip has appeared both as soloist and as guest principal with every Australian orchestra and has appeared as principal with the Australian World Orchestra on tours of Australia and India. He has recently played concerti with the Corpus Medicorum, the Royal Melbourne Philharmonic and the Zelman Cowan orchestra and was a frequent soloist with the Malaysian Philharmonic during his tenure there in repetoire ranging from Mozart to Henze, Copland ,Weber, Strauss, Bruch , Stamitz , Bernstein and Stravinsky amongst others. His playing has been reviewed as " mellifluous, engaging and assured ". Philip's is a busy chamber musician and he has collaborated with some of the worlds finest musicians and ensembles in that realm . He has appeared at the Townsville, Huntingdon and Port Fairy festivals and performed with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Melbourne Chamber Orchestra , The Goldner Quartet, Eggner trio , Auer quartet , Wilmaand friends as well as the Australia Ensemble , and many contemporary ensembles including Arcko , Alpha Ensemble and Australysis groups. He is a founding member of the Melbourne Ensemble which has appeared at the MRC and Woodend arts festival and will be the MSO’s Ensemble in residence for 2020. Since 2012 he has appeared regularly with and toured South America and Europe with the sensational Camerata Bern of Switzerland under the leadership of Antje Weithaas. Philip is particularly proud to be a founding member of Plexus, a trio with violinist MonicaCurro and pianist Stefan Cassomenos, that has commissioned and given world premiere sacross Australia to over 100 new works largely by Australian composers in its 5 years ofexistence and whose concerts are broadcast regularly on ABC national radio. Their collaborations have produced works with dancers, Kitt Webster lighting designer, singers Greta Bradman and Deborah Cheetham, choirs, electronic expresser Tim Green, sculptors such as Heather B Swann, actors Helen Morse and John English and pure trios by luminaries such as Paul Dean, Joe Chindamo, Andrew Ford and many more. Philip has given masterclasses across Australia and Asia under the MPO umbrella and in South America for Camerata Bern and teaches the clarinet through Melbourne University. He has tutored at the National Music Camp, the Malaysian Philharmonic Youth Orchestra and Melbourne Youth Orchestra and has conducted various small ensembles at the Dewan Filharmonik Petronas in Kuala Lumpur and across Malaysia.