PHILIP R BUTTALL was educated at Cambridge, Durham and Exeter Universities. Winning the Raymond Ffenell Prize at the Royal College of Music, he graduated with Distinction, having studied piano with Cyril Smith and Peter Element, recorder with Freda Dinn, and composition with Bryan Kelly. He retired from full-time teaching after more than twenty-five years in the secondary sector.
He has since worked as an examiner, and subsequently set the Electronic Organ syllabus for one of the leading international examination boards, and has been their consultant for that instrument. He is the Classical Music Writer & Critic for The Herald in Plymouth, where he writes a weekly column and regular concert reviews, as well as providing programme notes for a number of concert organisations and at the University of Plymouth. His performing activities now tend to involve piano-duo work, and he has also contributed a book on the Piano Concertos of the Irish composer, John Field, to the reference section of Plymouth Library Services, and which is now available, in electronic form, from PRB Music. He is a member of the European Piano Teachers' Association (EPTA UK), and regularly writes music and software reviews for their Piano Professional magazine. Philip is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Recent 'major coups' have included performances of his Samba..alla Turca! by the City of Birmingham Orchestra (CBSO) at Symphony Hall, for the 2006 Family Christmas Concert, and by the London Concert Orchestra at London's Royal Albert Hall in December 2007. The work was also performed twice at the start of January 2008, by the internationally-acclaimed Ulster Orchestra, at their Viennese Evenings at the Waterfront, Belfast.
In December 2006 he was awarded a Fellowship in Music from Trinity College, London, for his dissertation and subsequent London presentation of:
The Piano Writing & Formal Structure in the Piano Concertos of John Field (1782 – 1837), and their subsequent Influences. In December 2007, Philip gained a further diploma, this time in Jazz Piano Performing, so he is definitely keeping his practical skills finely honed!
The accompanying photo shows Philip on a break in Malta, a lovely island which he very much loves - and their friendly people, too! [Editor's Note: Philip's the one on the left!]
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