Phillip SWAN

SWAN

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 11/26/2008 at 08:50:02

Phillip Swan comes to First Congregational Church with a wide variety of experiences and interests. He is currently Associate Director of Choral Studies at Lawrence University, where he conducts Cantala (Women's Choir), teaches conducting, and participates in numerous other musical and music education activities. He has completed coursework for the Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Miami and is currently completing his dissertation on the choral music of Eric Whitacre.

Phillip hails from the Midwest, having been born in Belmond, Iowa, and subsequently living in Wisconsin, Minnesota, North and South Dakota, California, Texas, and Florida. He completed his undergraduate education at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, with an instrumental music education emphasis. Even though his early training was in instrumental music, he studied church music for a year at Northwestern College in Roseville, Minnesota, where he was also the assistant student conductor for the college choir. While at Northwestern, he was offered an interim church music position in Anoka, Minnesota, and this combination of opportunities strengthened his interest in choral music. These experiences shaped and inspired his professional path, which led him to full-time church work, followed by a Master’s degree in choral conducting at the University of Texas-El Paso and teaching high school vocal music before pursuing his doctoral work at Miami. Phillip brings an extraordinary breadth and depth of experiences to his work and is comfortable in a wide variety of genres and media.

Phillip's hobbies outside of music include cross-country, downhill, and water skiing (not at the same time!), bicycling, backpacking, stained glass, and copper enameling.

First Congregational United Church of Christ, Appleton, Wisconsin
http://www.firstcongoappleton.org/staff/phillip.htm