Todd Phillips

Violinist Todd Phillips enjoys a varied career that harkens back to the traditions of previous generations of musicians who were in equal demand as soloist, chamber musician, orchestra leader/conductor, and teacher. Since making his solo debut with the Pittsburgh Symphony at the age of thirteen, he has appeared with many orchestras throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan, including the Brandenburg Ensemble, the Jacksonville Symphony, Camerata Salzburg, Honolulu Symphony, Sejong Soloists, and the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra. He made his Carnegie Hall debut in 1982 with the New York String Orchestra and conductor Alexander Schneider. Return engagements at Carnegie Hall soon followed, as well as solo performances in Avery Fisher Hall, Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Boston Symphony Hall, and the Frankfurt Opera House.

He can be heard as soloist and chamber music artist on the Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, RCA Red Seal, Koch International, Delos, Arabesque, Bridge Records, Albany, Finlandia, NY Philomusica Records, and Marlboro Recording Society labels.

Mr. Phillips is a founding member of the highly acclaimed Orion String Quartet, along with his brother Daniel Phillips, violist Steven Tenenbom, and cellist Timothy Eddy. The Orion String Quartet has the been the quartet-in-residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Mannes College of Music, and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Isaac Stern invited the quartet to take part in a special chamber music concert celebrating Carnegie Hall’s Centennial and also to participate as coaches at the prestigious Isaac Stern Chamber Music Workshop. The Quartet’s television appearances have included PBS’s Live from Lincoln Center, three performances on ABC’s Good Morning America, and A&E’s Breakfast with the Arts.

Mr. Phillips’s other extensive chamber music activities have included performances at the Marlboro, Spoleto, Santa Fe, Aspen, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Chamber Music Northwest, and Lockenhaus festivals, the Great Mountains Music Festival (Korea), the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and the 92nd Street Y. He has collaborated with such renowned artists as Rudolf Serkin, Jaime Laredo, Pinchas Zukerman, Richard Stoltzman, Peter Serkin, Richard Goode, and Andras Schiff and has participated in eighteen tours with Musicians from Marlboro.

His experience as a member of the conductorless Orpheus Chamber Orchestra has led to his being in great demand as a frequent leader of that group worldwide. This has prompted further invitations to lead/conduct the Brandenburg Ensemble, Haydn–Mozart Chamber Orchestra, the New World Symphony, Camerata Nordica of Sweden, the Tapiola Sinfonietta of Finland, Mannes Sinfonietta, and the festival chamber orchestras from Steamboat Springs, Colorado and Risor, Norway.

Todd Phillips also serves on the violin and chamber music faculties of the Mannes College of Music and the Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.

Mr. Phillips began studying the violin at the age of four with his father, Eugene Phillips, a composer and former violinist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, and later studied with Sally Thomas at the Juilliard School and with Sandor Vegh at the Mozarteum in Salzburg. He also studied the piano with his mother, Natalie Phillips, a professor in piano at the University of Pittsburgh.

Mr. Phillips lives in Brooklyn, New York with his wife, violinist Catherine Cho, and is the father of four children, Lia, Eliza, Jason, and Brandon.