Department
Odeion School of Music
Lance Phillip was born in Durban in 1973. From 1983 – 1986 he received his earliest musical training as a chorister at the St Thomas Choir School in New York, under Gerre Hancock. Here he also was privileged to work with such renowned guest musicians as George Guest, Simon Preston, Placido Domingo & Lorin Maazel. He read Music at the University of Pretoria, and graduated BMus (Composition) in 1995, under Henk Temmingh. In the same year he formed the Ars Nova Consort, a Pretoria-based choir. Phillip is active as a tenor and conductor, and was Assistant Director of Music at Christ Church, Arcadia, under George King, from 1997–2009. He was also a member of Richard Cock’s Chanticleer Singers (2003–9), and directed ENSEMBLE 4BOURDON, an ad hoc vocal ensemble. In 2000 he was engaged as a teacher at St Alban’s College, Pretoria, and was appointed Head of Subject and Head of Singing there in 2005. He was simultaneously a Piano Teacher at St Mary’s DSG from 1997–2008. Phillip studied singing with Lorraine Haveman-du Toit, and orchestral conducting with Walter Mony. Just before leaving Pretoria, he agreed to serve as Director of Music during an interregnum at St Alban’s College. In September 2009 he was appointed to the staff of the Odeion School of Music (University of the Free State), where he currently holds the post of Lecturer in Composition, Choral Studies & Musicology. In 2011 he was appointed as Director of Music at Bloemfontein Cathedral, where he directs the Cathedral Singers of St Michael & St Andrew, in addition to the University’s departmental academic choral ensemble, the Odeion Choir. In 2013 Phillip performed the role of the Evangelist and the tenor solos in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio under Gerben Grooten, as well as the tenor solo in Orff’s Carmina burana under Alexander Fokkens. He is a founding member and regular guest singer with the Cape Consort, a leading early music ensemble, as well as a guest conductor & singer with the Baroque2000 orchestra, which he first conducted in 2001. He collaborates on an annual basis with the Free State Symphony Orchestra, as a tenor soloist, chorus tenor & chorus master. He is a former Master of the Choristers of St Andrew’s School Chapel Choir. Phillip holds a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from the University of the Free State.
Publications (Short List)
composition
Liturgical music
Choral/orchestral conducting
YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnsAGOeZ7aLNT7_84MFqWGA
| CMC342 | This module offers an introduction to the main streams of early and middle 20th century Western art music. |
| CMC422 | This module offers an introduction to the sacred and secular music of the secunda prattica of the type practised by Monteverdi, against the old prima prattica of Palestrina and the Roman-Burgundian polyphonic tradition.
Listening and practical exposure forms an important part of the course work.
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| KRL234 | This course is an introduction to orchestral and choral conducting. The class lectures are individual lessons, and focused on honing conducting technique and, to a limited extent, analysis of scores.
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| KRL244 |
| MUSC1503 | This module requires that the student become a member of the Odeion Choir, a specialist chamber choir which serves as the academic choral instrument of the Odeion School of Music, and which aims to instil professional choral values into performances, and to train the conducting students within its ranks for future study in that field. Rehearsals and performances are both frequent and intensive, and a high level of commitment is expected; however, the rewards of this commitment are numerous, and can be applied to musicianship in other instrumental fields too. In addition to rehearsals, students are given singing lessons every fortnight, and there are regular opportunities for solo work. Choristers who apply themselves will enjoy an improvement in their vocal, sight-reading and ensemble skills even after 3 months. Other benefits include the opportunity for students to create smaller, ad hoc groups within the choir. |
| MUSC2603 |
| MUSC3604 |
| MUSG1502 | This module exposes the student to the most important style periods and genres of art music through guided listening to a selection of recordings. The module equips students with a rudimentary knowledge of the most important literature and composers and with skills of informed engagement with sounding music, either as recordings or in concert. |
| MUSM1512 | This module offers an introduction to baroque music by introducing the concept of rhetoric, and its all-pervading influence in music of the period, especially through the medium of word-painting in vocal music (espcially opera and oratorio) as well as instrumental music. Listening and practical exposure forms an important part of the course work. |
| MUSM1622 | This module offers an introduction to classical/early romantic music and how it came to replace rhetorical music with the social revolution in late 18th century Europe. The rise of increased individual expression in the classical masters is examined through study of certain important operatic, symphonic and chamber works of the period. Listening and practical exposure forms an important part of the course work. |
| MUSM2622 | This module offers an introduction to Western art music of the early twentieth century, beginningwith the influence of the late romantic masterpieces on Debussy. The aesthetic of the leading compositional schools are examined, and their historical context. Fields such as the dissolution of tonality, expansion of the orchestra, proliferation of styles and the split of popular music from art music are examined, and the reasons for them. Listening and practical exposure forms an important part of the course work. |
| MUSP3716 (Conducting) | This module comprises studies in instrumental/vocal proficiency through engagement with musical repertoire. MUSP3716 represents study of a first instrument with the artistic and technical command equating UNISA Teacher’s Licentiate (or LTCL; LRSM). |
| MUSP3726 (Conducting) | This module comprises studies in instrumental/vocal proficiency through engagement with musical repertoire. MUSP3726 represents study of a first instrument with the artistic and technical command equating UNISA Teacher’s Licentiate (or LTCL; LRSM). |
| MUSS2622 | This module offers an introduction to the compositional techniques of Western art music of the early twentieth century, beginning with the late Wagnerian chromaticism, the ecclesiastical modes as employed by Debussy, the English school of Holst & Vaughan Williams, the rhythmic, harmonic & melodic implications of the ballets of Stravinsky, the twelve tone technique of the Second Viennese School, the influence of Boulez & Stockhausen. Analysis forms the main part of the course; this is supplemented by brief compositional style-copy exercises. |
| MUSR7900 (Conducting) | This module comprises studies in instrumental/vocal proficiency through engagement with advanced musical repertoire. MUSP7800 represents study of a first instrument with the artistic and technical command equating a UNISA Concert Diploma (or FTCL; LRSM). |
| MUSD7900 | This module comprises the supervised writing of a mini-thesis on a topic with a comprised research focus. The student is trained to apply research methods in the chosen field, and to demonstrate adequate knowledge of literature relevant to the subject, as well as the ability to critically evaluate his or her own work, as well as that of other authors. |
Director of Music (2013- )
The Cathedral of St Andrew & St Michael, Bloemfontein
Regular Guest Conductor (2021- )
Rhapsody Orchestra, Bloemfontein