SEPF Guest Artist Phillip Bush

Phillip Bush

Concert Pianist,
University of Michigan (2000-2004)

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Phillip Bush is a pianist of uncommon versatility, with a repertoire extending from the sixteenth century to the twenty-first. His active and unconventional career has taken him to many parts of the globe. Since his New York recital debut at the Metropolitan Museum in 1984, Mr. Bush has appeared as recitalist throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. In 2001 he made his Carnegie Hall concerto debut with the London Sinfonietta to critical acclaim, replacing an ailing Peter Serkin on short notice in concerti by Stravinsky and Alexander Goehr. He has also appeared as soloist with the Osaka Century Orchestra, Cincinnati Symphony, Houston Symphony, and several other orchestras, in repertoire as far-ranging as the Beethoven concerti and the American premiere of Michael Nyman’s Harpsichord Concerto.

A much sought-after chamber musician, Mr. Bush has performed and recorded with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, appears frequently on New York's Bargemusic series, and has performed at the Grand Canyon Music Festival, Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Strings in the Mountains (Colorado), Sitka Music Festival (Alaska), St. Bart's Music Festival, Bahamas Music Festival, Music at Blair Atholl (Scotland), Cape May Music Festival, and many other festivals. He has also performed with the Kronos Quartet and the Miami String Quartet, and has also performed with members of the Emerson, Guarneri, Tokyo, Orion, and St. Lawrence quartets. Between 1991 and 1999 he performed over 250 concerts in Japan with the piano quartet "Typhoon," and recorded five CD's with the group for Epic/Sony, all of which reached the top of the Japanese classical charts. In 1993 Mr. Bush founded “MayMusic in Charlotte,” a critically acclaimed and innovative festival in North Carolina that annually presented chamber and contemporary music, film screenings, and other cross-disciplinary collaborations. He served as Artistic Director of that festival from 1993 to 1998. In 2007 he was named Music Director of the Chamber Music Conference and Composers Forum of the East, a month-long summer program in Bennington, Vermont. Mr. Bush can be heard frequently on public radio in the US, including appearances on "Saint Paul Sunday," and has had live performances broadcast frequently throughout the nation on television via the Classic Arts Showcase.

A fierce advocate for contemporary music, Phillip Bush has performed often with many of the New York area's most renowned new music ensembles, including Bang on a Can All-Stars, Philip Glass Ensemble, Steve Reich and Musicians, Group for Contemporary Music, Newband, Sequitur, Parnassus, and New Music Consort. Since 1995 he has been an artist-member of the Milwaukee-based new music group, Present Music. Mr. Bush's efforts on behalf of contemporary music have earned him grants and awards from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust, the Aaron Copland Fund, ASCAP, Chamber Music America, and the National Endowment for the Arts. His discography as soloist and chamber musician has now surpassed thirty recordings, on labels such as Sony, Virgin Classics, Koch International, New World Records, Denon, and many others.

Mr. Bush is a graduate of the Peabody Conservatory, where he studied with Leon Fleisher. From 2000 to 2004 Mr. Bush taught piano and chamber music at the University of Michigan. Today, in addition to his busy performing schedule, he continues to give masterclasses, sharing his insights with young musicians in venues throughout the nation. He makes his home in the Old Shandon neighborhood of Columbia, South Carolina, with his wife, pianist Lynn Kompass, their son Spencer, and their Husky mix, Ruby.

More information:

PhillipBush.com