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 conducted many of the major British orchestras as well as orchestras in Europe, the Far East, Australia and Russia. He has been Conductor with the Birmingham Royal Ballet since 1990, and his extensive knowledge of the ballet repertoire has taken him to major theatres in Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, Poland and Japan. He has been Principal Conductor of the Jersey Symphony Orchestra since 1995, and was Associate Conductor of the English Sinfonia from 1985 – 2005, introducing and conducting over 400 concerts.
Philip Ellis enjoyed an extended relationship with the Hallé Orchestra over 7 years conducting many symphony concerts each year in the Bridgewater Hall and on tour, plus schools’ and family concerts. He continues to be a regular guest conductor for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, as he has throughout his career. His recordings with the RPO include a well-received CD of Copland’s Orchestral Music (Appalachain Spring, Billy the Kid, El Salon Mexico) and a series of discs of popular classics.
He has worked with the Philharmonia (including a Prokofiev recording), London Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, BBC Philharmonic where his studio work has included conducting for the BBC Masterprize Composers’ Competition, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Concert Orchestra, English Chamber Orchestra, Manchester Camerata, London Mozart Players, English Northern Philharmonia, City of London Sinfonia and Northern Sinfonia.
Outside the UK he has recorded extensively for Belgian Radio and Television with the BRTN Philharmonic (Brussels) where he also made a successful symphonic debut with the Belgian National Orchestra at the Palais des Beaux-Arts. He is a regular guest conductor with the Flanders Symphony and the Würtembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen with whom he has enjoyed a particularly rewarding partnership for many years. He has conducted a number of symphony concerts with the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra and St Petersburg Symphony Orchestra, Neue Philharmonie Westfalen, Western Australian SO, Sydney SO and Melbourne SO.
With Birmingham Royal Ballet he has conducted between 40 and 90 performances each year since 1990, opening many productions. He has also worked with the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden (Romeo & Juliet, Nutcracker, Don Quixote), Angel Corella Ballet, English National Ballet, Gothenburg Ballet, La Scala Ballet, Polish National Ballet and Noriko Kobayashi Ballet (Tokyo). He recently made debuts at La Scala, Milan, Teatro Real in Madrid and the Liceu in Barcelona.
Since 2001 he has worked with soprano Lesley Garrett as Musical Director, collaborating with her on her many tours, recordings for BMG, Sony and EMI Classics and TV programmes, working with Bryn Terfel, Maxim Vengerov, Joshua Bell and many others.