Craig Phillips

Bass-Baritone
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Two-time GRAMMY®-nominee, Craig Phillips is an established operatic and concert soloist. Possessing a “handsome, elegant bass” (New York Times), he has distinguished himself as a gifted singing actor, performing a wide range of repertoire with companies including Sarasota Opera, Arizona Opera, Florida Grand Opera, and Boston Lyric Opera. From Monteverdi to Nico Muhly, his credits as a concert artist include appearances with Eastern Music Festival, Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, and Washington National Cathedral.

Appearing with Glimmerglass Opera for six consecutive seasons, Mr. Phillips proved adept at creating memorable characters, both comic and dramatic. His roles included Count Oscar in Offenbach’s Bluebeard, Argenio in Handel’s Imeneo, Raymond in Lucie de Lammermoor, and the Police Sergeant in Pirates of Penzance. As Nardo in New York City Opera‘s La finta giardiniera, the New York Sun singled-out Mr. Phillips as one of the “true lights of the production”, highlighting both his “clear lyric bass baritone” and “great talent for physical comedy.”

On the concert stage, Mr. Phillips has appeared with prominent orchestras, chamber ensembles, and choirs around the country. Notable engagements include Raphael in Haydn’s Creation with the Handel Choir of Baltimore; Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with The New York Collegium; Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Oakland East Bay Symphony; Haman in Handel’s Esther with Albany Pro Musica; and the role of Jesus in Bach’s St. John Passion with the Washington Bach Consort.

Mr. Phillips is a founding member of the acclaimed male classical vocal quartet New York Polyphony. Praised for a “rich, natural sound that’s larger and more complex than the sum of its parts,” (National Public Radio), the ensemble is recognized as one of the finest early music groups on the international scene. Their growing discography includes two GRAMMY®-nominated releases and albums that have topped the “best of” lists of The New Yorker, Gramophone, BBC Music Magazine, and The New York Times.

New York Polyphony maintains an active touring schedule, participating in major concert series and festivals around the world.  Recent engagements include debuts at London’s Wigmore Hall and The Royal Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, appearances at the Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Festival Oude Muziek Utrecht, and Thüringer Bachwochen; and the European premiere of the Missa Charles Darwin—a newly commissioned secular Mass setting based on texts of Charles Darwin by composer Gregory Brown—at the Museum für Naturkunde in Berlin.

Phillips serves on faculty of the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance as Assistant Professor of Voice and Vocal Pedagogy.

As ‘Nardo’ In LA FINTA GIARDINIERA with New York City Opera

As ‘Argenio’ in IMENEO with Glimmerglass Opera

As ‘The Pirate King’ in THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE with Nashville Opera

St. Thomas Church Concert Royal – Messiah
“Craig Phillips sang with a handsome, elegant bass.”
– The New York Times, December 13, 2007

Sinfonia New York – Haydn: Harmoniemesse
“The vocal soloists were good and well matched: Laura Heimes, soprano; Margaret Bragle, mezzo-soprano; Bryan Register, tenor; and Craig Phillips, bass.”
– The New York Times, October 3, 2007

Glimmerglass Opera – Pirates of Penzance
“…a strong impression as the Pirate King, as did the evening’s Sergeant of Police, Craig Phillips, a bass with a slightly Groucho-ish vacant stare and leaning gait.”
– New York Times

“…But spoofing the familiar G%26S shtick left plenty of elbow room for such lively principals…Craig Phillips (an officiously bumbling Sergeant of Police).”
– Opera News

“Craig Phillips was a fine Police Sergeant.”
– Classics Today

Glimmerglass Opera – Death in Venice
“Bass-baritone Craig Phillips made a very good English Travel Clerk, nervous and harassed by tourists trying to flee the city, but eloquent in his lengthy recounting of the onset of plague.”
– Ithaca Journal, July 28, 2005

“As the English Clerk, Craig Phillips provides the suave baritone one would have liked for the Traveler et al.”
– Dallas Morning News, July 27, 2005

Glimmerglass Opera – Imeneo
“The Argenio of bass-baritone Craig Phillips was befittingly surly, singing many of his recitatives seated in a rocking chair with his back to his extended family. His Act 1 aria (“Sull’ arena di barbara scene”) was humorously performed while fondling the head of the suspended deer carcass.”
– The Ithaca Journal, July 21, 2004

“Craig Phillips’ bass-baritone suited Argenio’s pomposity and he radiated a type of pride in the fact that his daughter might marry well without ever feeling a thing towards her.”
– Classics Today, August 4, 2004

“Bass-baritone Craig Phillips played the role of Argenio with a mournful authority.”
– Ithaca Times, July 28, 2004

“Craig Phillips was imposing as their father Argenio.”
– Financial Times, August 12, 2004

Nashville Opera – The Pirates of Penzance
“Former Young Artist Craig Phillips plays the lead role of the Pirate King, and he pulls the swashbuckling character off splendidly.”
– The Nashville City Paper, February 2004

Glimmerglass Opera – La fanciulla del West
” Bass-baritone Craig Phillips gave a good account of Jake Wallace’s Act 1 ballad.”
– The Ithaca Journal, July 8, 2004

“Standouts were Craig Phillips as the sad minstrel of act one”
– Classics Today, July 30, 2004

St. Thomas Church Concert Royal – St. John Passion
“The tenor Mark Bleeke as the Evangelist and the bass Craig Phillips as
Jesus gave elegant yet impetuous performances.”
– New York Times

Clarion Music Society – Beethoven Mass in C
“Of the vocal soloists in the Mass, Anna Dennis, the soprano, was
particularly compelling. And Craig Phillips, the bass, proved a worthy
– New York Times

Baltimore Handel Choir – Creation
“The guest soloists brought vocal refinement and eloquence of line to their assignments. Just the way baritone Craig Phillips gently shaded a line about snowflakes spoke volumes.”
– Baltimore Sun

Weill Hall – Russian Jewels from the Court of Catharine the Great
“…Craig Phillips’s powerful bass [was] especially impressive.”
– American Record Guide