Peter Phillips (conductor)

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Peter Phillips, October 2006

Peter Phillips (born October 15, 1953 in Southampton ) is a British conductor , choir director and musicologist . He is the founder of the British vocal ensemble The Tallis Scholars in 1973 and - together with Steve Smith - founder of the music label Gimell Records in 1980.

childhood and education

Phillips was born in Southampton and studied at Winchester College in Winchester from 1967 to 1971 , at the Royal School of Church Music in 1972 and as an organ student at St John's College in Oxford from 1972 to 1975 . His music teachers were Hugh Macdonald, Denis Arnold and David Wulstan.

Career

After completing his education, he taught at Oxford University , Trinity College of Music and the Royal College of Music in London , where he also led the chamber choir, succeeding David Willcocks . By 1988 he resigned from all these offices in order to devote himself entirely to conducting.

The Tallis Scholars

Peter Phillips founded The Tallis Scholars in 1973 . His first concert with this vocal ensemble took place on November 3, 1973 in the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Oxford. The ensemble consisted of singing fellows (hence the term Scholar in the Tallis Scholars title) and members of Oxbridge's leading choirs . From the beginning, Phillips endeavored to create a distinctive sound with his vocal ensemble, influenced by choirs he admired, especially the Clerkes of Oxenford. The repertoire he chose was idiosyncratic, as he interpreted previously neglected areas of polyphonic music in England and on the European continent. The first concert included music by Jacob Obrecht , Johannes Ockeghem and Orlando di Lassus .

After the founding of Gimell Records in 1980. The Tallis Scholars many gaps in the recording catalog can include polyphonic music and recorded relatively unknown composers such as Jacob Obrecht, Johannes Ockeghem, Manuel Cardoso , Robert White , Jacobus Clemens non Papa , Nicolas Gombert and Jean Mouton recorded .

Since winning the Gramophone Record of the Year Award in 1987, The Tallis Scholars have been recognized as the world's leading ensemble for the interpretation of Renaissance polyphony.

In 1988 Phillips gave his first concert at the Proms . Since then he has performed here many more times, always with the Tallis Scholars. In 2007 the Tallis Scholars teamed up with the BBC Singers to give the first modern performance of the 60-part mass Missa sopra Ecco sì beato giorno by Alessandro Striggio the Elder at the Proms . On August 4, 2014, Phillips and the Tallis Scholars were guests at the Proms to mark the anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War with a requiem by John Tavener . The requiem was also broadcast on BBC Four .

In 2013, Peter Phillips conducted the Tallis Scholars in a year of 99 concerts to celebrate the ensemble's 40th anniversary. Among other things, they visited New Zealand for the first time , Australia for the seventh time , Japan for the 14th time and the United States for the 61st time .

To date, The Tallis Scholars have given more than 2,200 concerts and recorded more than 60 CDs.

Further work as a conductor

In 1985 Phillips was invited to conduct the Paris baroque ensemble La Chapelle Royale , founded by Philippe Herreweghe , and the Netherlands Chamber Choir , which aroused a lifelong interest in working with choirs that were trained outside the Anglican choral tradition.

Phillips then worked with the Finnish Radio Choir, the Markells Voices Ensemble in Novosibirsk and the Collegium Vocale Gent (also at the invitation of Philippe Herreweghe). In 2003 he began working with the BBC Singers, with whom he has now appeared in almost 20 productions. He works regularly with the Tudor Choir in Seattle , the Choeur de Chambre de Namur and the vocal ensembles Intrada in Moscow and El Leon de Oro and Musica Reservata de Barcelona in Spain. In 2013 he started a new collaboration with the Netherlands Chamber Choir to record Antoine Brumel's 12-part Missa Etecce terrae motus .

Collaboration with composers

Phillips met the composer John Tavener in 1977 , which led to a long-term collaboration and friendship. For a long time Tavener was the only living composer who composed for the Tallis Scholars. The collaboration resulted in works such as Ikon of Light , Lords Prayer , Let not the Prince be silent , Tribute to Cavafy and The Requiem Fragments . In recent years Phillips has also worked with composers Eric Whitacre , Gabriel Jackson, Nico Muhly , Ivan Moody , John Woolrich, Matthew Martin, Christopher Willcock and Michael Nyman . 2015 he published at his label with Tintinnabuli compositions by Arvo Pärt , whose compositional style Tintinnabuli .

Educational work

In 2000, Peter Phillips and David Woodcock founded the first Tallis Scholars Summer School in Oakham, England . Further courses followed in 2005 in Seattle in the United States and in 2007 in Sydney, Australia . Similar courses were held in Rimini , Evora and Barcelona .

Since 1981 he has lectured at the John Hall Venice Course in Venice.

Phillips, who has had close ties with Merton College Chapel in Oxford since 1974 , founded a new choir at the college in 2006 with the help of Jessica Rawson and Simon Jones. This choir gave its first concerts in October 2008 under Phillips and Benjamin Nicholas. Since then he has toured a lot, makes a CD every year and gives many concerts. In 2011, The Guardian named this choir outstanding.

In 2014 Phillips helped set up the first London International A Cappella Choir Competition in St John's Smith Square. The jury for the competition included John Rutter , Emma Kirkby, Alastair Hume, Mark Williams and James O'Donnell. Works by the composer John Tavener were interpreted.

In 2018, Peter Phillips was able to explain his view of the Renaissance polyphony on BBC Radio 3 in a 6-hour series.

Journalistic work

In addition to his work as a conductor, Phillips has published numerous professional articles and new editions of rare music. These have contributed to the growing interest in Renaissance polyphony. Since January 1983 he has written a regular column for The Spectator magazine on all aspects of classical music, comprising over 450 articles. He has also written for The Times Literary Supplement , The Times , The Guardian , Royal Academy Magazine, BBC Music Magazine and the Evening Standard .

In 1995 he became the owner and editor of Musical Times , the world's oldest regular music magazine.

Awards

In 2005, Peter Phillips was appointed Chevalier de l ' Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French Minister of Culture , an award intended to honor those who have contributed to the understanding of French culture in the world.

In 2008 he was appointed Reed Rubin Director of Music at Merton College , Oxford, and in 2010 he became a Bodley Fellow of the college.

With the Tallis Scholars, he received four Gramophone Awards (1987, 1991, 1994 and 2005), two Diapason d'or de l'Année (1989 and 2012) and three nominations for the Grammy Awards (2002, 2009 and 2010). Her 1980 recording of Gregorio Allegris Miserere was named one of the 50 greatest recordings of all time by BBC Music Magazine.

In 2009, the Tallis Scholars were named the fourth most influential ensemble in the history of the genre by Early Music Today magazine , after the instrumental ensembles of David Munrow , John Eliot Gardiner and Christopher Hogwood . And in 2013 they were elected as the only Renaissance music ensemble in the Gramophone's Hall of Fame.

Publications

  • English Sacred Music 1549-1649 (Gimell, 1991)
  • What We Really Do (Musical Times: 1st edition 2003)
  • What We Really Do (Musical Times: 2nd edition 2013)

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ The Tallis Scholars. Retrieved January 17, 2019 .
  2. ↑ Gimell. Retrieved January 17, 2019 .
  3. ↑ a b c d e Peter Phillips. Retrieved January 17, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b c d e f g h Peter Phillips. Retrieved January 17, 2019 .
  5. ↑ a b c Peter Phillips (conductor). Retrieved January 17, 2019 .
  6. ^ Renaissance Polyphony. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
  7. Jump up ↑ Allegri - Miserere (25th Anniversary Edition). Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
  8. ↑ Gramophone Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 22, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Phillips, Peter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British conductor, choir director and musicologist
DATE OF BIRTH October 15, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Southampton