Music at All Saints':

Craig Phillips

Craig Phillips (b.1961) is a distinguished and popular American composer and organist. He holds the degrees Doctor of Musical Arts, Master of Music, and the Performers Certificate from the Eastman School of Music, Rochester, New York, where he studied with the great pedagogue Russell Saunders. His early studies were at the Blair School of Music in Nashville, and at Oklahoma Baptist University, where he earned his Bachelor of Music Degree.

In July 2002, Dr. Phillips was featured as soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra in a performance of his Concertino for organ and orchestra during the National Convention of the American Guild of Organists in Philadelphia. He has also appeared as soloist with members of the Eastman Philharmonia, the Oklahoma Symphony, the Los Angeles Mozart Orchestra, and Musica Angelica at the Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival. Dr. Phillips has appeared as soloist at regional conventions of the AGO and at various venues across the United States, and in 2003 performed and lectured at the University of Iowa’s Institute of Sacred Music. He has distinguished himself in a number of competitions, including First Prize in the 1994 Clarence Mader Competition for organ composition. He was a judge for the 2004 National Competition in Organ Improvisation at the National AGO convention in Los Angeles.

Dr. Phillips is increasingly in demand as a composer. He has been awarded commissions from such organizations The American Guild of Organists (for the National Convention in Seattle, 2000, and for regional conventions in San Diego, and Binghamton, 2001), The Association of Anglican Musicians, The Chamber Orchestra at St. Matthew’s (Pacific Palisades, CA), CoroAllegro of Wilmington, Delaware, University of California at Riverside, duo-organ team The Chenaults, Washington National Cathedral and many other churches and cathedrals. His secular works include a Concerto for Harpsichord and Chamber Orchestra, Concerto for Bassoon and Strings, A Festival Song for chorus and orchestra, a song cycle for soprano and orchestra entitled Songs of the Unknown Region, Suite for Organ, Brass Quintet and Percussion, two Sonatas for organ, and a number of other chamber works. His works have received critical acclaim in journals such as Clavier, The American Organist, Cross Accent, and The Journal of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and have been broadcast on National Public Radio’s Pipedreams. He has received numerous ASCAP awards, and in 1993 he was the recipient of a Meet the Composer grant for a work premiered at the Ojai Festival. His organ and choral works are published by a number of firms. A new recoding from Gothic Records was released in early 2004 — entitled A Festival Song, — it features a sampling of Phillips' choral and instrumental works performed by All Saints’ Choir and Craig Phillips as organist. Other works have been recorded on the Arkay, and Pro Organo labels.Dr. Phillips presently serves as Associate Director of Music and Composer-in-Residence at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Beverly Hills. He has accompanied the semi-professional choir of that church on several concert tours, and been featured with them on compact discs released by Gothic Records. He is a member of the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, and the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers and serves on the board of the Clarence Mader Foundation.

Craig can be reached by email at the following address: cphillips@allsaintsbh.org.