Phillips, Harvey (Gene)
Phillips, Harvey (Gene)
Phillips, Harvey (Gene), outstanding American tuba player and teacher; b. Aurora, Mo., Dec. 2,1929. He played the sousaphone in high school. After attending the Univ. of Mo. (1947–48), he joined the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus Band. He then took general music courses at the Juilliard School of Music (1950–54) and at the Manhattan School of Music (1956–58) in N.Y. He played in various ensembles there, including the N.Y.C. Ballet Orch., the N.Y.C. Opera Orch., the Goldman Band, and the Sym. of the Air. He also was a founding member of the N.Y. Brass Quintet. From 1967 to 1971 he held an administrative position at the New England Cons, of Music in Boston. In 1971 he became a prof, of music at the Ind. Univ. School of Music, being named a distinguished prof, of music there in 1979. He retired in 1994. Phillips commissioned works for tuba from Günther Schuller, Robert Russell Bennett, Alec Wilder, and Morton Gould. With W. Winkle, he publ. The Art of Tuba and Euphonium (Secau-cus, N.J., 1992).
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire