Dr Simon Phillippo

• PhD in Musicology, University of Cambridge
• MPhil in Musicology, University of Cambridge
• MA in Music, University of Cambridge

Simon Phillippo studied at the Royal Academy of Music and Gonville & Caius College, Cambridge, and has performed and broadcast extensively throughout the UK and abroad, as a recitalist, concerto soloist and accompanist. A distinguished chamber musician, Simon has always devoted his musical life to collaborative and interdisciplinary performance at the highest level, and his career has embraced performance both as pianist and conductor.

Simon was a conductor, pianist and chorus master at Welsh National Opera for 14 years, and he has performed with orchestras and opera companies around the world. He is also an eminent vocal accompanist and has performed a diverse repertoire with some of the world’s finest singers.

Simon has recently performed at the Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall in London, St David’s Hall in Cardiff, and in St David’s Cathedral (Fishguard Festival of Music). As a conductor, he has led concerts with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the orchestras of Opera North and Welsh National Opera, and the Helios Orchestra of London, as well as conducting over 150 opera performances for Welsh National Opera. He adjudicates regularly at piano festivals and competitions, including BBC Young Musician and the Wales International Piano Festival.

Simon combines a lifelong devotion to performance with a busy research profile. His principal research centres on the piano trios of Joseph Haydn, with a particular interest in their role as a locus of private social interaction. Simon builds on his experience as a performer and musicologist to develop new critical approaches to this repertory, situating the trios within discourses of gender, domesticity, emotion and sociability to reconsider the interpretation and historical reception of this music, while also reimagining performance of these trios in modern settings. Simon’s work on Haydn’s earliest trios is soon to be published by Cambridge University Press, in the series, Elements in Music and Musicians, 1750–1850.

In addition, Simon is editing the chamber works of Robert Simpson for Ricordi Berlin, producing authoritative scores for performance based on detailed scrutiny of the composer’s manuscripts, first editions and recordings, and additional materials held in archives at the Bodleian and British Libraries.

Simon leads a wide range of piano performance classes, specialising in the coaching of chamber music, vocal accompaniment, opera repertoire and conducting. He leads undergraduate study projects on historical topics, analysis, repertoire and interpretation, and he frequently supervises BMus dissertations in a variety of subject areas.

Simon has led the Keyboard Department at the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama since 2015, creating a dynamic course that focuses on the pursuit of pianistic excellence while offering a diverse, stimulating training in all the musical skills needed to thrive in today’s profession.

Simon would like to hear from prospective doctoral research students interested in 18th-century musical topics, including Haydn, keyboard music, chamber music, and opera; or elements of 20th-century British music, especially Tippett, Britten and Simpson.

Book

• Haydn’s Mid-Century Keyboard Trios (Cambridge University Press, Elements in Music and Musicians, 1750-1850), in preparation for publication late 2026.

Editions

• Robert Simpson, Sonata for Two Pianos (Lengnick/Ricordi, 2019).
• Robert Simpson, Variations and Finale on a Theme by Beethoven (Lengnick/Ricordi, 2019).
• Carl Nielsen (arr. Simpson) Commotio, op. 58 (Lengnick/Ricordi, 2019).
• Robert Simpson, Violin Sonata (Lengnick/Ricordi, 2020).
• Robert Simpson, Variations and Finale on a Theme by Haydn (piano trio version – in preparation for publication).

Book chapter

• Simpson, Modernism and Relevance, in Robert Simpson: Composer, ed. Jürgen Schaarwächter. (Hildesheim: Georg Olms Verlag, 2013): 510-528.

Journal articles

• Circles, Mirrors and Structural Momentum in Robert Simpson’s Second Symphony, Tonic 10 (Spring 1999), 29–38.
• Symphonic Momentum and Post-tonal Dramas, Tempo 209 (July 1999), 2–6.
• The Perpetual Striver, The Musical Times 139/1865 (Winter 1998), 25–30.
• Robert Simpson’s String Quartets Nos 4, 5, and 6, Tonic 8 (Spring 1997), 7–23.

Programme articles

• The Music of Salome, Welsh National Opera, 2002.
• No Nails Protrude (Wozzeck), Welsh National Opera, 2005.
• ‘So Foggy a Tale’ (Billy Budd), English National Opera, 2005.
• Rejoice Exceedingly – The Music of The Midsummer Marriage, The Royal Opera, 2005.