One of Britain's most outstanding concert organists and teachers, Margaret Phillips studied with the late Ralph Downes and Marie-Claire Alain. After her début at the Royal Festival Hall, she soon gained an international reputation as a soloist, playing at concert halls and cathedrals throughout Europe and in the U.S.A., Canada, Australia and Mexico. Alongside her busy concert career, she was a member of Council of the Royal College of Organists for 20 years, and President of the Incorporated Association of Organists from 1997 99. From 1996 to 2021, she was Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music in London, and in March 2022 she was awarded the Medal of the Royal College of Organists, the highest award given by the College (see photo above).
In 1994, Margaret Phillips and her late husband David Hunt founded the English Organ School and Museum in former chapel premises in Milborne Port, Somerset, where they have a collection of organs by English builders from the eighteenth century to the present day. EOS aims to provide facilities for learning and playing the organ, to promote its understanding and appreciation as a musical instrument, and to preserve a modest part of Britain's organ heritage.
Margaret's recent performance highlights include concerts in several Scandinavian cathedrals, as well as celebrity recitals at both Westminster Abbey and St Paul's Cathedral. In 2015 she gave two marathon series, each of 18 concerts, of the complete works of Bach: first in Milborne Port and then in London at St George's, Hanover Square, and in June 2016 she played an evening recital at the Royal Festival Hall in their international series 'Pull Out All the Stops' which was also broadcast on BBC Radio 3.
Margaret regularly gives masterclasses both at home and abroad, and has served on international competition juries such as those at St Albans and Odense. Her numerous CDs, which include the complete organ works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Stanley, have been highly praised, the first two volumes of the Bach series being hailed as 'some of the finest performances of Bach chorale preludes on disc'. Her release, Capriccio, is of contemporary music for organ.
Short version of biography for concert programmes:
One of Britain's outstanding concert organists and teachers, Margaret Phillips studied with the late Ralph Downes and Marie-Claire Alain. From 1996 to 2021 she was Professor of Organ at the Royal College of Music in London. Her numerous CDs, which include the complete organ works of Bach, Mendelssohn, Saint-Saëns and Stanley, have been highly praised. In 1994, Margaret Phillips and her late husband founded the English Organ School and Museum in former chapel premises in Milborne Port, Somerset, where they have a small collection of organs by English organ builders from the eighteenth century to the present day.
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Margaret Phillips
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