Serna, Dr. Phillip W.

PHILLIP W. SERNA performs on double bass with numerous Midwest orchestras as well as on violas da gamba with period-instrument Early Music ensembles including Ars Antigua, the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne, the Callipygian Players, the Chicago Early Music Consort, Duo fantaisie en Echo, Harmonie, Madison Bach Musicians, the Musica Angelica Baroque Orchestra, the Newberry Consort, New Comma Baroque, the Oriana Singers, the Second City Musick, the Secret of the Muses, the Spirit of Gambo - a Chicago Consort of Viols, and many others. In performance, Phillip has appeared on Chicago’s 98.7FM WFMT, Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Public Radio and WUIS NPR and can be heard on CD releases from Clarion, Cedille, Soundbyte and Varèse Sarabande Records. On viol, Phillip appears as a recitalist performing old and new works for viol and as an orchestral concert soloist.  In addition to teaching privately in the greater Chicago-area, Phillip is instructor of double bass and viola da gamba at Valparaiso University. Phillip is the founder and music director of the Early Music outreach program Viols in Our Schools, Early Music America’s Outreach Award recipient of 2010. Phillip has been a recipient of Viola da Gamba Society of America Grants-in-Aid to Young Artists and featured at the Gamba Gamut, a VdGSA-hosted showcase at the 2007 and 2011 Boston Early Music Festivals. Phillip holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Masters and Doctorate degrees from Northwestern University School of Music where he studied viola da gamba with Newberry Consort founder Mary Springfels. Phillip continues to study the viol at workshops and master classes with instructors including Erin Headley, Wieland Kuijken, Catherina Meints, Gail Ann Schroeder, Christel Thielmann and Brent Wissick.

Phillip Serna performs on a 7-string bass viol ‘Natalia La Reveuse - The Dreamer’ (after Colichon) by Jane Julier, Devon, UK, #129, 2007.