Brent Phillips
Faculty-in-Residence - University House Professor of Trombone, School of Music University School of Music
![Dr. Brent Phillips](/sites/g/files/ecbvkj1446/files/2023-08/brent.png)
FIR since Fall 2020
Professor Brent Phillips is the applied trombone faculty in Baylor's School of Music where he has taught since 2004. He is currently principal trombone in the Waco Symphony and Abilene Philharmonic. He continues to perform regularly with the Houston Symphony and serves as guest principal with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to his work at Baylor, he was Assistant Principal Trombone in the "President's Own" United States Marine Band in Washington DC, serving during the Bush and Clinton administrations and was principal trombone in the Harrisburg (PA) Symphony Orchestra. Professor Phillips performed with the Marine Band as a soloist in the Marine Band Chamber Orchestra and on national concert tours. His most memorable performance while in the Marine Band was a private prayer service with the Bush family at Camp David following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington DC.
Phillips studied music at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University earning both a BM and MM before auditioning for the "President's Own." His primary teachers were David Waters and David Kirk of the Houston Symphony and continuing study with Joseph Alessi, principal trombone of the New York Philharmonic. He was selected as a participant in multiple Alessi Seminar's held at the University of New Mexico and Fossano Italy and is a frequent soloist, clinician and invited artist at the Eastern Trombone Workshops, Trombonanza in Argentina and multiple International Trombone Festivals. Professor Phillips' recordings have received critical acclaim and include three solo CDs, two chamber CD's of commissioned and premiere recordings with the Stentorian Consort and two projects with the Baylor Brass, the resident faculty brass quintet at Baylor. Other recording credits include multiple discographies from the Marine Band and television series on the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet, and "Performance Today" on NPR. Phillips also recorded Mahler's Sixth and Third Symphonies with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra under Maestro Jaap Van Zweden.
Professor Phillips is the founder and director of the Mountain Light Music Festival – an intensive brass residency in Pagosa Springs Colorado. This faith-based chamber music festival allows students to come alongside Baylor faculty for a week of study, rehearsals, and outreach to the Pagosa Springs community. Phillips also serves as a wilderness guide for Voice of Wilderness, a Christian backpacking 501(c)3 organization which focuses on spiritual, educational and physical challenges in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado.
Joining Professor Phillips in his role as Faculty-in-Residence at University House will be his wife Meredith (Baylor BA-Education 94), their son,Keyson, who will begin Baylor in the fall of 2020 and Chief – their 11 year old Chocolate Lab. "I am thrilled to be joining the gents of University House this August! My family and I will be focusing on building lasting relationships and cultivating a servant leader mindset in University House. I look forward to hosting a two part series on" Developing True Identity" and delve deeper into the subject of "calling" and the biblical pursuit of strength, significance, and male masculinity as it relates to servant leadership. As an applied faculty in the School of Music, a large portion of my pedagogical approach to musical mastery centers around mental toughness, resilience and cultivating "leidenschaft" or suffering-ship – passionate experiential service through apprenticeship."