Bio

photo by Kimono Photography

Praised by the New York Times for her “delightful quirkiness matched with interpretive sensitivity,” Phyllis is a pianist,toy pianist and multimedia artist that performs original multimedia compositions  and works by contemporary composers. The Oregonian states  “her captivating performance was animated by unbridled inventiveness, the kind of joyous creativity that playing with toys is meant to inspire.” Phyllis’ artistic pursuits take her in numerous directions as a toy pianist, pianist, and composer, leading to her selection as a New Music/New Places Fellow at the 2007 Concert Artist Guild International Competition.
Playing an instrument that has no set boundaries or genre, Phyllis has been invited to perform at  a large variety of festivals and concerts, including  the  Chicago World Music Festival, Lotus World Music Festival as well as several distinguished keyboard festivals including the Gilmore International Keyboard Festival and Portland Piano International. In 2009, Phyllis was the featured solo musician in Stephin Merritt’s Off-Broadway musical Coraline for its six-week run at the Lucille Lortel Theater (NYC).  Phyllis made a European tour in the Fall of 2010, releasing her sophomore mini-album Mesmers, a gem that Time Out Chicago states is “a music world that simultaneously haunts and inspires. ” The album features all original works for toy piano, music boxes and bowls.

Phyllis is one of the founding members of ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble), a Chicago and New York-based collective dedicated to the performance and promotion of new works.  Phyllis was selected as one of the composer/artist for the inaugural ICElab Series, ICE’s newest model for commissioning, developing and performing new music by nurturing the essential composer-performer collaboration. Her newest work for the ensemble Chimers (for toy piano, clarinet, violin, glockenspiel and toy instruments) was written for ICE’s residency at the Mostly Mozart Festival, Lincoln Center. Her ICELab cycle will reached a culmination show at the Baryshnikov Center in November, 2011 and made their Midwest premiere at the Museum of Contemporary Photography in Chicago later that month.

Phyllis founded the UnCaged Toy Piano, a composition competition to further expand the repertoire for toy piano and electronics. The competition has received works from composers all around the world and these compositions become an integral part of her repertoire. This Winter, Phyllis will be hosting the first-ever UnCaged Toy Piano Festival, a three-day festival to premiere the new works from the competition and showcase other things toy. A strong interest in interdisciplinary work led her to collaborations with video artist and electronic musician Rob Dietz with whom she created multimedia works such as  Looking Glass ReWondered, The Memoirist, Pearlessence, Chroma and Carousels. The two of them are interested in co-creating new works that  rethink the idea of live art and performance using music and visuals. Upcoming projects for the duo include a micro-media toy piano opera commissioned by Opera Cabal, scheduled to be premiered in Chicago 2012.

Phyllis attended Oberlin Conservatory as a recipient of the Dean’s Talent Award Scholarship and received a Masters Degree from Northwestern University as an Eckstein Merit Scholar. She is continuing to pursue her DMA in piano performance at Indiana University where she studied with André Watts.