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(Pronouns: he or they)
Philip’s most recent music-theatre work, The Faggots and their Friends Between Revolutions (Manchester International Festival, Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Bregenzer Festspiele, Southbank Centre, Holland Festival, Ruhrtriennale), with director/dramatist Ted Huffman, was acclaimed as “irresistibly, unforgettably compelling”by the Guardian and “an astonishing feat of controlled chaos… Venables’ score is a delirious stylistic fantasia” by the New York Times.
Recent concert works include Answer Machine Tape, 1987, based on the audio archive material from artist and AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz; My Favourite Piece is the Goldberg Variations (Text: Ted Huffman) and Numbers 81–85 and 96–100 (Text: Simon Howard). These works have been performed at festivals including HCMF, Time of Music, November Music, Festival d’Automne à Paris, Rainy Days, Klang Festival and Musica Festival Strasbourg. Answer Machine Tape, 1987 was shortlisted for an Ivors Classical Award in 2023.
Philip collaborates extensively in cross-media work, including with artist Douglas Gordon on Bound to Hurt (HAU Theater Berlin, Kampnagel Sommerfestival Hamburg and Theater Basel); with drag/performance artist David Hoyle on Illusions (London Sinfonietta, UK New Music Biennial) and sound installation Canal Street (Manchester International Festival/Manchester Camerata); with violinist Pekka Kuusisto on Venables plays Bartók (BBC Proms/BBC Symphony Orchestra); and with Mahogany Opera and Ted Huffman on a ‘snappy opera’ for children The Big History of Little England. Philip’s debut album Below the Belt was released on NMC in 2018: “unmissable… music of forensic clarity and visceral force – but also great tenderness and generosity†(BBC Music Magazine).
Philip was featured composer at the 2021 Festival d’Automne à Paris, including a new large-scale sound installation for l’Église Saint-Eustache, and in the same season made their professional conducting début, with the London Sinfonietta. They were a MacDowell Fellow with Ted Huffman in 2017 and in the Opera Creation Workshop at Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2019. He studied at Cambridge University and then with Philip Cashian and David Sawer at the Royal Academy of Music, which elected him an Associate (ARAM) in 2016 for their contribution to composition. Philip completed their doctorate in 2016 while Doctoral Composer in Residence at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal Opera House with Julian Philips and James Weeks.
The 24/25 Season sees the premiere of Philip’s fourth opera and first orchestral opera, We Are The Lucky Ones, at Dutch National Opera, written with Ted Huffman and Nina Segal.
(Valid for 24/25 Season. Please do not edit without permission)
SHORT VERSION
Philip’s previous music-theatre works, 4.48 Psychosis (2016, text: Kane), Denis & Katya (2019, text: Huffman) and The Faggots and their Friends Between Revolutions (2023, text: Huffman after Mitchell) , have been performed by leading companies in London, New York City, Paris, Amsterdam, Strasbourg, Manchester, Aix-en-Provence, Dresden, Philadelphia, Hannover and Montpellier. The operas have won the Fedora Prize, an RPS Award, and an Ivor Novello Award, as well as shortlisted nominations for an Olivier Award and Sky Arts South Bank Award. The Times branded 4.48 Psychosis “a new brand of opera†and The New York Times Denis & Katya as “an intimate, haunting triumph.†Philip’s fourth opera, We Are The Lucky Ones (text: Huffman / Segal) will premiere at Dutch National Opera in March 2025.
Concert works include Answer Machine Tape, 1987, based on archive material from David Wojnarowicz; My Favourite Piece is the Goldberg Variations (Text: Ted Huffman); a series of pieces based on Numbers by poet Simon Howard; several pieces with drag/performance artist David Hoyle (Illusions, Canal Street); and Venables plays Bartók with violinist Pekka Kuusisto for the BBC Proms. Philip’s debut album Below the Belt was released on NMC in 2018: “unmissable… music of forensic clarity and visceral force – but also great tenderness and generosity“(BBC Music Magazine).
Philip has been a fellow at Yaddo and MacDowell, doctoral composer in residence with the Royal Opera and the Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2014–2016, and elected Associate of the Royal Academy of Music in 2016.
(Valid for 24/25 Season. Please do not edit without permission)