Serna, Phillip

Phillip Serna

Over the past decade, double bassist and collaborative artist PHILLIP W. SERNA has emerged among our nation's leading advocates of the viola da gamba. Co-founding Black Tulip, New Comma Baroque, ViolMedium and the Spirit of Gambo - a Chicago Consort of Viols, he’s collaborated with a myriad of distinguished historical-performance ensembles - most notably the Bella Voce Sinfonia, Burning River Baroque, the Chicago Early Music Consort, Indianapolis Baroque Orchestra, Les Touches, the Newberry Consort, and many others. He can be heard on WFMT Chicago, Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Public Radio, and on releases from Clarion, Cedille, New Focus, Varèse Sarabande Records as well as as well as Midweſt415, Chicago’s newest independent Early Music & New Music record label focused on Historically-Informed Performance Practice on period instruments.

Holding degrees from Northwestern University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Phillip teaches at Valparaiso University & Elgin Community College, formerly at North Central College, the Music Institute of Chicago & as co-director Illinois' first public-school period-instrument program at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. Phillip has served on the faculties of the Madison Early Music Festival, the Whitewater Early Music Festival, and is the music director of Viols in Our Schools earning him Early Music America’s 2010 Laurette Goldberg Award for lifetime achievement in Early Music outreach. Phillip’s online virtual viol consort project - Consorts-Minus-One - has been recognized in major string music publications the world over. For more information, visit https://ffm.bio/phillipwserna