About |
“Virtuosic playing and a perfect sense of timing,” raves Guitar Extra of ROBERT PHILLIPS debut recording, Guitarre Nouveau. Will Crutchfield in the New York Times noted his “aptitude for putting across character.” His eclectic programming has excited audiences throughout the U.S., the Middle East, and Canada. Since making his debut to a sold-out Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Robert has brought his brilliant interpretations to a diverse range of venues – from traditional concert halls including New York’s prestigious Town Hall, and Lincoln Center to jazz nightclubs. He has appeared as a guest soloist with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra, the Bach Festival Orchestra, and the West Islip Chamber Orchestra. Robert has appeared as a guest artist at the Miami International Guitar Festival, the Guitar Foundation of America, and the American String Teachers’ Association, as well as numerous regional level performing arts series.
Robert has been a guest on numerous radio stations, performing live on NPR member stations including WNYC (New York City), WAMC (Albany), WMHT (Troy, NY), as well as WDST (Woodstock), WMNF (Tampa). His recordings have been featured on both classical radio stations and jazz radio stations, including WQCD (New York City), and have been regularly featured on nationally syndicated shows including “Guitar Alive” and “New Sounds”. Robert has been interviewed and performed on the nationally syndicated television talk show, “The Joe Franklin Show”, and on “Good Morning Kuwait”.
Robert Phillips holds a doctorate in music from the University of Miami. A recipient of a Japan Fulbright, Dr. Phillips is respected internationally as a scholar, and educator, as well as a performer. A former student of Rey de la Torre, Carlos Barbosa-Lima, and David Starobin, he has embraced a wide range of repertory preferences. In addition to the standard classical guitar canon, his repertoire includes works by Luciano Berio, Philip Glass, Alan Hovhaness, Eberhard Weber, Miguel Llobet, and Thelonius Monk. He also performs his own compositions, and has premiered works by three-time Pulitzer nominee, Frank Brazinski, Eric Ross, Alfred Giusto, and Meyer Kupferman, as well as a concerto written for him by three-time Grammy winner, Michael Colina. Dr. Phillips also performs in central Florida with a jazz combo.
After completing a successful instructional series for Group W Cable TV entitled “Classic Guitar Made Easy”, Dr. Phillips was invited by Group W to produce and host a musically oriented talk show, “Long Island Sounds”. Robert was formerly on the editorial staff of “Guitar Review” magazine, and has contributed a number of articles to “Soundboard”, the journal of the Guitar Foundation of America, and to "American String Teacher", the journal of the American String Teachers' Association. He spent three years as the classical guitar columnist for “Guitar for the Practicing Musician”, and its sister publication, “Guitar Extra” before becoming a contributing writer for “Guitar Player”. Many of his transcriptions and editions of works for classical guitar have been published in these magazines and by Cherry Lane Music Co., Inc. His anthology, “Great Themes and Variations for Classic Guitar” was published by Mel Bay Publications, Inc., which also released his 2 CD recording of the same title.
Robert has been on the artist-in-residence roster for the states of Florida, North Carolina, Nebraska, Ohio, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Dr. Phillips has served on the boards of advisors to both the Society of the Classic Guitar of New York, and the Long Island Classical Guitar Society, as well as the Board of Directors of Arts on the Park, in Lakeland. He was on the faculties of the Preparatory Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College, and the Mount Vernon Music Academy, and has conducted master classes and workshops in the US and Canada.
Dr. Phillips is considered one of the leading authorities on the music of Miguel Llobet, and in 2000, while researching his dissertation, he rediscovered the missing Llobet archive in Barcelona. He recently recorded the complete published solo guitar works of Llobet.
Dr. Phillips teaches classical guitar, and music theory at the Lois Cowles Harrison School for the Visual and Performing Arts, and is an adjunct professor of music at Southeastern University.