Biography

Jamie Phillips’s penetrating insight and innate musicality convey an infectious joy in his music-making. Praised for his “ability to pick up a familiar piece by the scruff of its neck and shake invigorating new life into it" (Bachtrack), Phillips is a natural story-teller whose clear and expressive hands deliver his ardent vision. 

Jamie Phillips has developed a strong guest conducting profile across Europe, recently conducting the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Vienna Tonkünstler Orchestra, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, NDR Radiophilharmonie and Munich Chamber Orchestra, as well as Philharmonie Zuidnederland, Het Gelders Orkest, Oslo Philharmonic, Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne, Opéra de Lyon, Camerata Salzburg, Odense Symphony Orchestra and Orchestre national d’Île de France. 

 

Phillips enjoys a close association with the Hallé Orchestra. Following his successful appointment as Assistant Conductor (aged 20) the orchestra created the title of Associate Conductor for him and he regularly returns to conduct subscription concerts. During the 22/23 season he returns to the Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Deutsche Radio Philharmonie, Sinfonieorchester St Gallen, Orchestre de Chambre de Lausanne and conducts the Aalborg Symphony, Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Ulster Orchestra, as well as the Britten Sinfonia in works by Delius and Joseph Tawadros. 

His repertoire ranges from Baroque to present day with the current programmes including works by Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Dvořák, Elgar, Copland, Shostakovich, Ravel, Saint-Saëns, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Walton, Tippett, Adès and Kari Beate Tandberg. It is contemporary works he has so far committed to disc. With the Hallé his recordings of works by Tarik O’Regan and Helen Grime for the NMC label were “spot-on” (Classical Music magazine). His October 2020 release of 11 commissioned works inspired by JS Bach’s Goldberg Variations with the NDR Radiophilharmonie and violinist Niklas Liepe for Sony won an Opus Klassik Award. 

During his studies at the Royal Northern College of Music, Jamie Phillips was a semi-finalist in the 2011 Besançon Competition and was a prize-winner in the 2012 Nestlé Salzburg Young Conductors Award. In 2016 he was awarded a Dudamel Fellowship with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.