Phil started conducting while at college gaining invaluable experience as a choral conductor. It was also during this period that he conducted his first musical, a youth production of Jesus Christ Superstar.
His first professional engagement as a conductor/ MD came in 1989 with the 21st birthday production of Joseph & the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (featuring a young Jude Law in the title role) for the National Youth Music Theatre at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. At the same festival, he conducted a Royal Gala performance in front of HRH The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex, in aid of The Royal Hospital for Sick Children.
Since then, Phil has enjoyed conducting some of the biggest and most famous works of musical theatre. Amongst these are Billy Elliot, Evita, Les Miserables, Jerry Springer – The Opera, We Will Rock You, and The Phantom of the Opera, including a Royal Gala performance of the latter in front of Her Majesty The Queen and the HRH The Duke of Edinburgh to celebrate the reopening of the restored Liverpool Empire Theatre.
He has conducted in the West End, and on tour both in the U.K. and overseas.