ince his much-acclaimed conducting debut in 2003, Leo Phillips has been regularly performing as conductor with The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra, The Thailand Philharmonic, The Siam Philharmonic,
The Siam Chamber Orchestra and The Bangkok Wind Ensemble.

In addition to his many concert performances, Leo also conducted the South East Asian premiere of Benjamin Britten's opera ‘The Turn of the Screw’ at the Thailand Cultural Centre. The opening night was graced with the attendance of H.R.H. Princess Galyani Vadhana, and also present was the director of the Bayreuth Festspiele, Wolfgang Wagner.

In 2005 Leo was appointed Artist-in-Residence at The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore where he has taught violin, coached chamber music, and conducted the Academy Orchestra in performance at The Lee Foundation Theatre. 2006 saw Leo invited to the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Mumbai to conduct the newly formed Symphony Orchestra of India; he was subsequently invited to become the SOI’s Conductor-in-Residence. Other invitations have been forthcoming from orchestras based in the United Kingdom, Italy, Kazakhstan, and Thailand.

Born in London, Leo studied the violin both in Europe, with David Takeno and Sandor Vegh, and in The United States with Dorothy DeLay and Shmuel Ashkenasi.

He has appeared as violin soloist with many orchestras including The London Philharmonic, Manchester Camerata, The City of Oxford Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra of South Africa. Leo has also appeared many times with L’Orchestre de Chambre de Genève and in 1996, in addition to performing and directing all five Mozart concerti with them in Montreux, he was the violin soloist on their recording, conducted by Thierry Fischer, of Mozart’s ‘Haffner’ Serenade.

A dedicated chamber musician, Leo was a founder member of the Vellinger String Quartet, and Leader of the internationally regarded Nash Ensemble of London (1996–2000) with whom he toured extensively and has made many critically acclaimed recordings and broadcasts.

Leo has appeared in over sixty countries worldwide as Leader of many world-renowned orchestras including The London Philharmonic, Hallé Orchestra, Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra, BBC National Orchestra of Wales, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, The Ulster Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, East of England Orchestra, The Premiere Ensemble and The London Bach Orchestra, The Chamber Orchestra of Europe, Bergen Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Tenerife Symphony Orchestra, Orchestre de Chambre de Genève, Orquestra Sinfónica Portuguesa, Orchestra Teatro Lirico di Cagliari, Heidelberg Kammerorchester, Nieuw Sinfonietta Amsterdam, The Hong Kong Philharmonic, The Bangkok Symphony Orchestra and The National Symphony Orchestra of South Africa.

Leo has given lessons and conducted master classes at The Royal Academy of Music, The Guildhall School, Chetham’s School of Music, Silapakorn University, Bangkok, and Princeton University, USA. He has also been Artist in Residence at The Sydney Conservatorium, Australia, and The Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, Singapore.

In addition to his musical career, Leo co-wrote a full-length comedy screenplay: ‘Vivaldi – The Movie’, and was commissioned to devise the six-part documentary series ‘Living Music’ for Channel 4 television (1991). He has published articles in The Daily Telegraph, ‘Art’ magazine and ‘Autocar’, and his photographic portraits of Dame Iris Murdoch were displayed in Britain’s National Portrait Gallery.

A duplicate bridge enthusiast, Leo has played bridge in several countries and, in the UK, he has played at county level representing Oxfordshire.
Whilst on sabbatical in 2001, Leo completed a course in ‘Teaching English as a Foreign Language’ following which he taught English for several months at a school in Quito, Ecuador.