Philip Ellis - conductor
Since winning First Prize at the Leeds Conductors’ Competition in 1991 Philip Ellis has established a reputation as one of Great Britain’s most versatile conductors. He has worked with many of the major British orchestras as well as orchestras in Europe, the Far East, Australia and Russia. He has been a Staff Conductor with the Birmingham Royal Ballet since 1990, Principal Conductor of the Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 1995, and he was Associate Conductor of the English Sinfonia from 1985 – 2005.
In the UK he has conducted the Philharmonia, London Philharmonic, Hallé, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Concert Orchestra, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, London Mozart Players, English Chamber Orchestra, English Northern Philharmonia, English Northern Philharmonic, City of London Sinfonia, and the Northern Sinfonia.
Following his debut with the Singapore Symphony Orchestra in 1987 his work abroad has included the Hong Kong Philharmonic, Netherlands Radio Symphony, Belgian National Orchestra, Flanders SO, St Petersburg Philharmonic, St Petersburg SO, Turin Opera Orchestra, National Orchestra of Mexico, Western Australian SO, Sydney SO and Melbourne SO. He has conducted the BRTN Philharmonic (Brussels) on many occasions for both Radio and Television. He is a regular guest conductor in Germany with the Würtembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen and Neue Philharmonie Westfallen.
For dance, as well as conducting most of the productions with the Birmingham Royal Ballet he has also conducted the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden (Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Don Quixote and Gala work), English National Ballet (Alice, Nutcracker), and Gothenburg Ballet (Fille mal Gardée). He has premiered two programmes for the Polish National Ballet in Warsaw (La Bayadere, Balanchine and his Muses), and he has also conducted performances of Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake in Japan and London, a production he opened in Paris in 2005. He is now a regular guest conductor for the “Noriko Kobayashi Ballet” in Tokyo opening new productions for them in each of the last three seasons. In September 2008 he made his debut at the Teatro Real in Madrid and in December the same year at La Scala, Milan (La Bayadere). In July 2009 he will conduct at the Liceu in Barcelona for the first time (La Bayadere).
CD recordings include Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals with the Philharmonia, Copland’s Rodeo and Appalachian Spring with the RPO which was followed by a further series of CDs with the RPO of Concert Classics. He has worked extensively with Lesley Garrett since 2001 on tours, concerts and recordings for BMG, Sony and EMI Classics, also conducting many of her TV programmes for the BBC.
He made his opera debut conducting Tosca with Opera Holland Park and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2004. He was Musical Director for National Theatre Production of Harrison Birtwistle’s Bow Down and Under the Greenwood Tree at the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Philip Ellis studied Violin, Percussion and Conducting at the Royal Academy of Music gaining an GRSM Honours 1st Class and an LRAM. He graduated from the Opera Course with a performance of Eugene Onegin, and he was later awarded the ARAM. In 1992 he was one of only five conductors to graduate from the European International Conductors Masterclass with the Netherlands Radio Symphony in the Concertgebouw.