Opera and theatre director/ Director of the Swaledale Festival

Born in New York and educated in Australia, Philip studied at Sydney University and the University of New South Wales, while beginning a career in the arts, working as actor, singer, musician, dancer, composer and puppeteer. He now works as a director of opera, theatre and music theatre and since 2000, he has been Director of the Swaledale Festival in Yorkshire, which presents chamber music of all genres.

He has been a Staff Director at Glyndebourne and the Staatsoper in Munich and from 1990 - 1992, was Special Projects Manager for The Garden Venture at the Royal Opera House. From 1992 - 1997 Philip was the founding Artistic Director of Spitalfields Market Opera, a chamber opera house for London, where he directed the productions of Mozart’s Der Schauspieldirektor, Salieri’s Prima la Musica poi le Parole, Roger Marsh’s Love on the Rocks, a children’s opera Sid the Serpent who wanted to Sing, and the world premiere of Sir Charles Mackerras’s re-orchestration of Isaac Nathan’s Don John of Austria - the latter two designed by Jane Wildgoose.

Other opera productions include Massenet’s Manon for Opera South, Madame Butterfly and Cosi fan tutte for the Barbados Festival, Cimarosa’s Il Matrimonio Segreto for the National Trust, Tosca at Holland Park, La Traviata in Malta for Opera Interludes, Monteverdi’s The Coronation of Poppea on tour in Scotland, and Kurt Weill’s Street Scene at the Birmingham Conservatoire. In 1995 Philip directed the world premiere of Helen of Braemore by Eddie McGuire which toured extensively in Scotland and Scandinavia, while an interest in unusual and chamber repertoire has led to productions of one act works by English composers such as Holst, Vaughan Williams, Stephen Storace and Handel, and cycles of the early Gluck comic operas and Offenbach one act works.

In 2000, Philip programmed and directed the company of actors who worked in the zones of the Millennium Dome, and directed two major millennium community projects in Yorkshire. Recent work includes new plays by Tony Stowers and Deborah Freeman, Monteverdi’s Il Combattimento di Tancredi e Clorinda for the Sion Festival in Switzerland, as well as productions of Tosca, La Boheme, and Cosi fan tutte.