Philip R Buttall

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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, studying piano with Cyril Smith, 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 and has since worked as an examiner and consultant for one of the leading international examination boards. For many years he was the Classical Music Writer for Plymouth Herald, where he wrote a weekly Classical Music page and regular concert reviews, as well as a major contributor to ArtsCulture and Seen and Heard International. Philip still provides programme notes for a number of concert organisations, and was a respected CD-reviewer for Music Web International, also for a number of years.

A highly-qualified and experienced private piano teacher, he is now a retired member of European Piano Teachers' Association (EPTA UK), and has written music and software reviews for their Piano Professional magazine. Philip is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.

Among his major 'coups' are 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. It will be performed again in the Province in 2013, with extra venues at Derry and Ballymena.

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, he gained a further diploma, this time in Jazz Piano Performing, so is definitely keeping his practical skills finely honed, too! In 2017, Philip took the recently-introduced ARSM Recital Diploma, which he gained 'with Distinction' - essentially to refresh and update his exam experience - as well as hopefully to keep his fingers nimble, for as long as possible.

In January 2010 Philip gained the Diploma in Freelance Journalism from the British College of Journalism.

[Updated March 2023]