Steve Phillips graduated from postgraduate study at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama (now Royal Conservatoire of Scotland) and sang for several companies including Scottish Opera, Garsington Opera and Raymond Gubbay at the Royal Albert Hall before moving into full-time arts administration in 2012. Since then he has run Oxenfoord International Summer School (alongside Artistic Director Malcolm Martineau), most recently working with Welsh National Opera following contracts as Company Manager at The Grange Festival and Chorus Manager at Opera North.
Steve was Chorus Manager for five years at Opera North; taking choristers to Grimes on the Beach as part of Aldeburgh Festival’s 2013 Britten Centenary celebrations, with singers from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and Into the Woods, a 2016 co-production with Leeds Playhouse, with all roles cast from within the ensemble. In addition to setting up the Royal Northern College of Music/Opera North Chorus Mentor Scheme, he has sat on general auditions, chorister auditions, biennial vocal reviews and annual role and cover auditions for the Company. For a further three years he produced Opera North`s Whistle Stop Opera (a bite-sized, half-hour introduction to opera, touring the North of England and featuring as part of the BBC`s opera programming at the V&A and live-streamed via their nationwide #OperaPassion day) and in 2018 managed Opera North’s Kiss Me, Kate tour to the Ravenna Festival, overseeing all guest artists, dancers, chorus, orchestra and technical departments. In 2019/20 he worked with the planning and casting departments in preparation for future seasons.
In a freelance capacity, Steve has produced for Charles Court Opera (Kings Head Theatre, Iford Festival and G&S International Festival) and launched the Leeds Lieder Young Artists programme for the 2018 & 2019 Festivals. With a long-standing commitment to artist development, he provides training at the UK conservatoires and National Opera Studio to include CV, biography, audition and continuing professional development sessions. In 2022 Steve worked with the Black British Classical Foundation to launch their Voice of Black Opera competition and with Opera Rara to fix their ensemble of singers for recordings and concert performances at the Barbican, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Cadogan Hall.