R u t h P h i l l i p s
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Ruth Phillips covers a wide range of musical styles, with performances in improvised, dance and world music featuring regularly alongside her successful career as a modern and baroque cellist. Ruth was Born in London in 1964. With her father a painter, and her mother a music teacher and author, Ruth grew up in a Bohemian household surrounded by distinguished artists, musicians and writers from all over the world. It was here that the seed of her eclectic taste was planted and, when she left the Yehudi Menuhin School to study the cello in Germany and later in New York, she continued to pursue these interests, taking courses in jazz, folk, world music, yoga, Alexander Technique, meditation and dance. As a result of this wide experience, Ruth not only enjoys an international career as a vibrant performer, but is sought after as an innovative and exciting teacher and chamber music coach, passionately committed to rediscovering the body as the primary instrument, and the spirit of performance as something spontaneous and natural. In
1999 Ruth gained a Masters
degree in
Voice-Movement-Therapy, and
went on to build 'The Dance
of Sound', giving concerts
and workshops with the Jazz
singer, Carol Grimes and 5
Rhythms dancer Sophie
Ferman. The workshops were
specifically designed for
those suffering from stage
fright, using theatre,
improvisation and breathing
techniques to help transform
fear into positive adrenalin
and a desire to perform. The
concerts, which took place
in the Brighton Healing
Sounds Festival, included a
collaboration in which
improvised dance shed a
fresh light on Bach's cello
Suites. Ruth has
given master-classes at
Dartington summer school,
and has taught at the
Guildhall School of Music in
London, the State University
of New York at Stony Brook,
Bath Spa University, East
Sussex Academy and Toulouse Conservatoire. She worked
for many years with the
Glyndebourne Education
programme and has coached
the young cellists in the
East Sussex Youth Orchestra
and European Youth Summer
Music.
"I have recently had the pleasure of receiving tuition from Ruth Phillips. Her approach to teaching is such that she creates an environment that can only allow the pupil to develop in all areas. It is rare to find a teacher that can combine all aspects of musicianship and convey them in a clear, logical, and essentially human way. What is particularly informative is Ruths understanding of the relationship between the mental (interpretative) and physical being her intense musical understanding and knowledge expressed not only through sound but also through a physical technique, which, if singled out, is an art form of its own. She then has the ability to relate these connections with everyday life experiences in a revelatory manner. Ruths knowledge of many different musical styles and techniques also has a profound affect on the pupil. It makes you realize that all music, whether simple or complex, is in some way related, and how much we can learn from appreciating other musicians, styles, and cultures. The result is a well-rounded musician with a broad interpretation. However, it is Ruths own relationship with her cello that is most educational. She literally embraces it as if it were an extension of her own body, constantly working with it to create an atmosphere of enlightenment and artistic satisfaction.
Daniel Keane
"In addition to being a gifted and accomplished cellist, Ruth Phillips has developed movement and body awareness skills to a point where she can use them effectively in helping students to address their physical and emotional relationship with their instrument. She is a fine poet whose use of imagery combined with her clear ability to articulate the core principals of Voice-Movement-Therapy in the service of aspiring string players has enabled her to take this work into a whole new area" Anne Brownell, MA, LMHC, DipVMT. "Your thesis is an amazing accomplishment. There is so much evidence in your discourse of your passionate search for the roots of music; its nature and ways to find it. Congratulations on articulating what you' ve discovered and setting it down in a clear and poetic way."
Timothy Eddy
"Ruth Phillips is a fine cellist who plays with exceptional musicianship and gripping sensitivity, always communicating a strong vision of the piece... (Ruth) has been through a deep personal journey into the nature of the psychology - one might say spirituality - of performance. As a result of this journey with her students and her study of Indian and other musical disciplines she now has a highly valuable lesson to offer to all who approach her; a lesson much needed in the current climate, and to my knowledge, a unique one." Jonathan Harvey (MA, Ph.D, D.MUS, FRCM), composer. "Thankyou so much for all that I have learned and for all that you have given out to us. I feel that you have changed my whole physical thinking of my relationship with my cello" Participant in cello workshop at Dartington. 2000 "You and Carol were so different and seemed so at home together. Thanks for being an accessible musician. How I bless the Festival organisers" Participant in Healing Sounds Festival workshop with Carol Grimes, 2000 | ||||
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Ruth
studied at the Robert
Schumann Institut in
Dusseldorf with Johannes
Goritzki, at the
International Musicians'
Seminar in Cornwall with
Sandor Vegh, and at the
State University of New York
with Timothy Eddy, where she
received her Masters degree
in performance. She has
played with the Chamber
Orchestra of Europe, The New
London Consort, the
Gabrielli Ensemble, and the
Hanover Band. She was a
member of Glyndebourne
Touring Opera for twelve
years where she played
continuo in the 2001
production of Mozart's
'Marriage of Figaro', and in
the Peter Sellars' 2003
production of Handel's
'Theodora' with Emanuelle
Haim, and, since moving to
France in 2004, she has been
working with the Musiciens
du Louvre, Opera Fuoco and
the Concert
d'Astrée.