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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Entertainment
Kelly Burke

Piano virtuoso Alexander Gavrylyuk: ‘It is unfortunate to see music as a competition. It is a uniting force’

Concert pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk leaning against his piano
Ukrainian-Australian concert pianist Alexander Gavrylyuk will perform with the Australian Chamber Orchestra for the first time in August. Photograph: Bec Lorrimer/The Guardian

Youthful and rebellious is how Alexander Gavrylyuk describes Shostakovich’s Piano Concerto No 1, the work with which he will mark his debut appearance with the Australian Chamber Orchestra on Friday.

“It’s a work where he fights to be heard,” says the Australia-based virtuoso, speaking from a waterside cafe a stone’s throw away from the ACO’s Walsh Bay home. “One gets a feeling that it’s been written by someone cornered who is trying to remain an individual in resistance to the system.”

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