INDEPENDENT OPERA at Sadler's Wells · Artist support

Philip Smith Baritone

Recipient of INDEPENDENT OPERA Postgraduate Voice Fellowship (Royal Northern College of Music)

British baritone, Philip Smith, studied Zoology as an undergraduate and completed a Masters in Conservation at the University of Leeds before working as the National Otter Surveyor of England. His passion for singing, however, propelled him to join the Birmingham Conservatoire in 2004, where he won the Postgraduate Certificate Prize. He then enrolled at the RNCM to study with Barbara Robotham completing his postgraduate diploma.

At the RNCM his operatic roles have included Ramiro
(L’heure espagnole), Figaro (Le nozze di Figaro), The Forester (The Cunning Little Vixen) and Macheath (The Threepenny Opera). He has also appeared as Luka (The Bear) for Opera Minima and Escamillo (Carmen) for the Mananan Opera Festival, and was a member of the chorus at the 2007 Glyndebourne Opera Festival.

Philip regularly appears in recital and oratorio throughout the UK and in mainland Europe and has worked with many eminent conductors including Mark Elder, David Hill, John Lubbock, Peter Holman and Clark Rundell. He has participated in masterclasses with Roger Vignoles and Julius Drake.

In 2008, Philip will took part in the Britten-Pears Young Artist Scheme and rejoined the chorus for Glyndebourne on Tour. His other engagements include Aeneas (Dido and Aeneas) with the Manchester Camerata and a tour to Poland as a soloist with the Leeds Philharmonic Society to perform Five Mystical Songs by Vaughan Williams and the Polish premier of The Armed Man by Karl Jenkins.

Philip has won several prizes including the Elizabeth Harwood Memorial Prize 2008, the Joyce and Michael Kennedy Award for the Singing of Strauss 2007 and second prize at the Great Elm Vocal Awards 2007. He would like to thank the Fenton Arts Trust for their generous support of his studies at the RNCM.