Phillip W. Serna

Phillip Serna performs on double bass with 5th Wave Collective, EChO – the Evanston Chamber Opera Company, Illinois Philharmonic, Illinois Symphony, Lake Forest Symphony, New Philharmonic, Northwest Indiana Symphony, South Bend Symphony, Southwest Michigan Symphony, and many others. Over the last decade, he's emerged among the nation’s leading advocates of the viola da gamba. Co-founding Black Tulip, New Comma Baroque, ViolMedium & 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. He can be heard on WFMT Chicago, Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Public Radio, & on releases from Clarion, Cedille, New Focus & Varèse Sarabande Records. Holding degrees from Northwestern University & the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Phillip teaches at Valparaiso University & North Central College, formerly at the Music Institute of Chicago & as co-director of Illinois' first public-school period-instrument program at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. He serves as music director of Viols in Our Schools, an education initiative that earned him Early Music America's 2010 Laurette Goldberg Award for Early Music outreach. Phillip’s online virtual viol consort project - Consorts-Minus-One - has been recognized in string music publications the world over.