Phillip Harris

  • Collegiate
Pre-College
  • Voice
Phillip Harris Headshot

Contact

Departments

Pre-College

Education

DMA, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

MM, University of Michigan

BM, University of California, Irvine

Ensembles

Mountain Play

San Francisco Symphony (1 yr)

San Francisco Opera (2 yrs)

Aspen Music Festival (1 yr)

Courses Taught

Q&A

What is your hometown?

Oakland

What is your favorite recording?

Tough question to answer, it depends on the day, anywhere from an album with Whitney Houston, Stevie Wonder, Donny Hathaway, Simon Keenlyside, Beyonce, Tupac, or Eminem.

What are you passionate about outside of music?

Building meaningful relationships with people.

Who were your major teachers?

George Shirley, Darryl Taylor, Alfonse Anderson

What is a favorite quote that you repeatedly tell students?

The best teachers teach themselves out of a job.

What was the defining moment when you decided to pursue music as a career?

I entered a program at UC Berkeley in high school called the Young Musicians Program and it made my path pretty clear.

What was a turning point in your career?

When a professor told me I had "no potential."

If you weren't a musician or teacher, what do you think you would be doing now?

Teaching history.

What is your daily practice routine?

Prayer, meditation, and a constant reminder to try not to follow the crowd.

If you could play only three composers for the rest of your life, who would they be? Why?

Stevie Wonder, Mozart, Kirk Franklin

From a music history perspective, what year and city are most important to you? Why?

Any major city in America in 1971 when Marvin Gaye's album, What's Goin On, was released.

What is your unrealized project?

A second album or EP of original songs

What do you think makes a concert experience unique?

Walking away feeling both inspired and the need to practice.

Please list your most important collaborations.

With Damien Sneed, San Francisco Symphony, and with all of my students.

What recordings can we hear you on? Any additional media?

In My Philz, Phillip Harris in Recital

https://www.philliplnharris.com/mt-reel

https://www.philliplnharris.com/classical-reel

Biography

Phillip Harris has sung at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in addition to singing numerous roles in operas and musicals. He has presented lectures, masterclasses, and recitals in colleges and universities across the country. Co-VP of Student Auditions for SFBAC NATS, he has taught or teaches at Menlo School, West Valley College, Head-Royce School, and Convent & Stuart Hall. He has music and or vocal directed musicals at Mountain Play, YMTC, MoonSchool at 42nd Street Moon, Chanticleers Theatre, The Nueva School, and Head-Royce. As a recording artist, he has two vocal recordings on all streaming platforms, IN MY PHILZ and PHILLIP HARRIS IN RECITAL. His students are graduates of Boston Conservatory at Berklee, have placed first in NATS competitions, and have placed in various other vocal competitions.

Events