Music Makers: with Steve Phillips, Producer, Manager and Tenor

Music we love and live with

Image Credit: Pablo Strong Photography

We are delighted to welcome Steve Phillips, a producer and artist manager with a wide-ranging career behind the scenes of the opera world. Bringing together an understanding of performance with extensive experience in producing, artist development and management, Steve has built his career around supporting singers and creating the conditions in which artists and projects can thrive. A tenor himself, he brings a performer’s perspective to his work, alongside a keen understanding of the practical and creative realities of the profession.

Aria you hum round the house / sing in the shower

It depends on what I've been listening to (usually not a tenor aria!). Most recently it was “Dopo notte” (Handel, Ariodante) at a Grasmere Song fundraising concert (spoiler alert, the excellent countertenor is singing the role at the Royal College of Music this year).

First aria you remember studying

“Where'er you walk” (Handel, Semele) - I sang it at my oldest friend's wedding, which was a real privilege as he isn't into classical music.

Music you most like to listen to when working

I mostly listen to symphonic works so that words don't get in the way…It's also outside of my comfort zone and I find the unfamiliar interesting.

Last piece of music you deliberately chose to listen to

Madonna's Confessions II - my husband Warren is a fan of everything popular music and this was the soundtrack to Grasmere Song 2026!

Music you feel most emotionally connected to

Mahler’s Symphony No.2 in C Minor (particularly an unforgettable experience a few years ago when the timps led the climax into “The Resurrection Chorus” at the Proms - the sound literally reverberated through everyone. In terms of recordings, it has to be Claudio Abbado's final Mahler Symphonies with the Lucerne Festival. The silence he holds after number 9 is something else!

Aria you wish you could sing

I don't sing professionally but enjoy singing with a church choir in Dulwich when I can. I wish I had the facility to sing tenor roles like Prince Ramiro (Rossini, La Cenerentola), not full lyric roles which most people seem to aspire to, but the thrilling repertoire that moves and excites. Sadly one of my exam reports from the RSAMD said: “Unfortunately Steve's grace notes were not very graceful”...and that's without any significant coloratura! 

Explore more of Steve Phillips’ work https://www.stevephillipsmanagement.co.uk/ and https://grasmeresong.co.uk/