Craig Phillips

Bass-Baritone
Bio
Photos
Audio
Suggested Operatic Repertoire
Review Excerpts
Web site

Bio
Praised for his “suave baritone” (Dallas Morning News), Craig Phillips is becoming a fixture on opera stages and concert halls around the country. For his portrayal of Argenio in Handel’s Imeneo with Glimmerglass Opera, The New York Times cited his “appealing, sturdy bass-baritone” among a cast of “fresh-voiced and impressive artists.” 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.”

Appearing with Glimmerglass Opera for six consecutive seasons in a wide range of repertoire, Mr. Phillips has distinguished himself as a gifted singing actor. His roles included Count Oscar in Offenbach’s Bluebeard, Raymond in Lucie de Lammermoor, The English Clerk in Britten’s Death in Venice, and, most recently, the Police Sergeant in Pirates of Penzance. Other recent engagements include Sam in Un ballo in maschera with Florida Grand Opera; Pirate King in Pirates of Penzance with Nashville Opera; Leporello in Don Giovanni with Pensacola Opera; and Marquis d’Obigny in La traviata with New York City Opera.

Engagements this season include Raphael in Haydn’s Creation with the Handel Choir of Baltimore; a Weill Recital Hall debut with Clarion Music Society in Berezovsky’s Do Not Forget Me in My Old Age; Cornelius in the premiere of John Eaton’s Pumped Fiction for the American Composers Alliance 50th Anniversary Festival of American Music; and the bass solos in Messiah with Concert Royal and The Saint Thomas Choir. In addition, he makes his Sarasota Opera debut as Rambaldo in La rondine.

As a concert soloist, Mr. Phillips has appeared with prominent orchestras, chamber ensembles, and choirs around the country. Notable engagements include Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with The New York Collegium; Dvorak’s Stabat Mater with the Oakland East Bay Symphony; bass soloist in Handel’s Messiah with the American Classical Orchestra; Haman in Handel’s Esther with Albany Pro Musica; bass soloist in Handel’s Israel in Egypt with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra; and bass soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with The New York Chamber Sinfonia. Mr. Phillips has just returned from singing Judas in Bach’s St. Matthew Passion with Musica Angelica Los Angeles and Orchestra Wiener Akademie for the opening of the Festival de Mexico en el Centro Historico in Mexico City, Mexico.

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