Biography

one of the most successful composers of his generation

Joseph Phibbs was born in London, and studied at The Purcell School, King’s College London, and Cornell University. His teachers have included Param Vir, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, and Steven Stucky.

Described by BBC Music Magazine as “one of the most successful composers of his generation”, Phibbs’s works have been championed by some of the world’s leading conductors, including Edward Gardner, Gianandrea Noseda, Sakari Oramo, Vassily Petrenko, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Leonard Slatkin. Rivers to the Sea, the first of several large-scale orchestral works composed in recent years, was premiered to acclaim in 2012 by the Philharmonia Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, and has since received numerous performances in the UK and abroad, winning a British Composer Award in 2013.

A recording of his Clarinet Concerto, first performed in 2017 by Mark van de Wiel and the Philharmonia Orchestra under Edward Gardner, attracted widespread critical acclaim in The Sunday Times, Classic FM, Classical Source, and elsewhere, and was selected by The Sunday Times as one of the 100 Best Albums of 2019. He has also composed concertos for Evelyn Glennie (Bar Veloce), Sarah Williamson (Concertino for clarinet, strings, and harp), and Nicholas Daniel (Towards Purcell, a concertante work for oboe, horn, harp), as well as Evian Variations (Dacha Savoyarde) for cello and orchestra, premiered under Laurence Dale at the 2013 Evian Festival.

Other orchestras to have performed and commissioned his works include the London Symphony Orchestra, Britten Sinfonia, London Sinfonietta, Washington Symphony Orchestra, and BBC Symphony Orchestra, for which he has written five works to date, including In Camera, Lumina (Last Night of the Proms), and Partita (supported by a Koussevitzky Music Foundation Award).

His instrumental music includes four string quartets (Piatti Quartet (2014 and 2024), Navarra Quartet (2015), and Belcea Quartet/Carnegie Hall (2018)), song cycles, and sonatas. His Violin Sonata, composed for Mathilde Milwidsky in 2020 (Presteigne Festival) was followed by a Cello Sonata for Guy Johnston (2021, Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival) and a Piano Sonatine for Noriko Ogawa (2024, Kawasaki Concert Hall), a pianist with whom he works regularly. Night Paths (2023) – for saxophonist Huw Wiggin and Noriko Ogawa – is scheduled to be performed in its orchestrated version in 2026. In October 2023, the Wigmore Hall presented an overview of his chamber music from the last decade in two portrait concerts, including the premiere of a string quintet by Piatti Quartet and Tim Lowe. In 2024, two substantial new chamber works were premiered at Kings Place to celebrate his 50th birthday: a Clarinet Quintet for Mark van de Wiel and Brodsky Quartet (commissioned by Mark van de Wiel and Jouko Heikura), and his String Quartet No.4, by the Piatti Quartet (commissioned by Piatti Quartet and Richard Thomas Foundation). His most recent chamber work, City Dances, was premiered in October by enSEmble26.

His works have been featured at a various festivals – BBC Proms, Aldeburgh, Three Choirs, Cheltenham, Hatfield House, and Tanglewood – although over the last decade he has enjoyed a particularly close association with the Presteigne Festival, for which director George Vass has commissioned many works, including (jointly with Nova Music Opera/Cheltenham Festival) the opera Juliana, to a libretto by Laurie Slade. Described by The Guardian as ‘that rare thing nowadays, a genuinely well-made, effective new opera’, it has since been recorded by Resonus.

He composes regularly for voice, with performances and recordings by choirs such as Tenebrae, The Sixteen, and ORA Singers. A short anthem, for Help Musicians, received its premiere in Westminster Cathedral in 2023.

Current commissions include a work for choir and brass (for JAM on the Marsh), a cello concerto for Guy Johnston/BBC Symphony Orchestra, a bass clarinet concerto for Carl-Johan Stjernström/Malmo Symphony Orchestra, and a piano trio for Gould Trio (commissioned jointly by Wigmore Hall). Night Paths (2023), composed for saxophonist Huw Wiggin and Noriko Ogawa, is scheduled to be performed in its orchestrated version in 2026.

A CD his string quartets nos.2-4, supported by the Richard Thomas Foundation, will be released by the Piatti Quartet in November 2024.