Sian Philipps

Welsh violinist, Sian Philipps has appeared as soloist throughout the UK and Europe with orchestras such as the Philharmonia, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and London Mozart Players etc with conductors including Ilan Volkov, Jose Cura, Andre de Ridder and Nicolae Moldoveanu.  She has performed at all of the major London recital halls including the Wigmore Hall, of which a critic wrote ” This was a quality of violin sound as beautiful as it comes..”.  She has performed at major concert halls including the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, Brahmsaal Musikverein at the invitation of the British Ambassador, Ferstl Palace for the President of Austria, St Poelten International Baroque Festival, and at the International Schubert Tage with pianist Manfred Wagner-Artzt.

In 2009 she was chosen as a partner for the UK Government’s DCSF campaign “Tune in” which aimed to promote music nationwide and she founded a competition with Antony Hopkins CBE called “Strictly Composing” which resulted in a performance at The Forge, Camden and CD “Footsteps to Piazzolla”. A keen proponent of contemporary music, Sian has collaborated with and premiered or had works composed for her by Antony Hopkins CBE, John Hawkins, Graham Lynch, Michael Omer and Mauricio Sotelo.  She was made “Selected Artist 2010/2011” by “Making Music” when she performed recitals with Per Rundberg in music clubs around the country including Antony Hopkins’ 90th birthday concert.  In 2011 Schleswig-Holsteinischer Zeitungsverlag GmbH & Co, KG wrote “it takes very many pages in a book to call forth the many feelings she conjured with four strings”.

She began to learn the violin aged 5, soon gaining a place at the Yehudi Menuhin School, taking part in Masterclasses with Lord Menuhin, Felix Andrievsky and Sidney Griller and performing in local community projects from an early age; in hospices, schools, Care homes etc. due to Lord Menuhin’s belief in the healing power of music. This formed the basis for her work with Menuhin’s “Live Music Now!” scheme in the UK and for “Live Music Now!” Austria.
She has won many national and international prizes including The Ian Fleming, Emily English, John Lill and Ryan Davies Awards, the Blue Riband at the National Eisteddfod of Wales and has been assisted by the Zetland Foundation.
Sian has broadcast for BBC TV and Radio, including Radio 3 “In Tune”, NDR Germany, Radio Stephansdom Vienna, S4C and BBC Wales.  International Record Review wrote of her CD with Sophia Rahman “Homage a Lorca – in Search of Duende”, “this is an astonishing disc … it is rare to hear such engaged, fiery playing” and El Pais remarked that “their interpretation of de Falla reminded one of those great artists Alica de Larrocha and Victoria de Los Angeles … one hour of ultimate emotion”.
In 2011 Sian was a victim of stalking and internet harassment which had far-reaching consequences. She has since campaigned for tighter regulation of the internet and against homelessness. In 2018 she gave the London premiere of Grace Williams’ violin sonata at Blackheath Halls and will perform it again in Brighton and London this Autumn with Constance Chow. In 2019 she performed “The Lark Ascending” at the Chelsea inaugural festival. She was recently awarded funding from Arts Council England to record and tour, from the Transmission Fund HMUK for mentoring and from RVW Trust for performance.This had to be postponed due to the pandemic. Sian will be performing  Vaughan Williams Midsummer Concert as part of Make Music Day at the Brighton Fringe including a premiere of Nocturne by John Hawkins.

https://www.brightonfringe.org/whats-on/vaughan-williams-midsummer-concert-152927/

Vaughan Williams Midsummer concert (pre-anniversary)

Sian Philipps is loaned a Stradivarius violin made in 1699.