Educator, and Professional Conductor, Violinist, and Violist, Studying for a PhD in Music at the University of Cambridge

Daniel Phillips is a cultural historian and musicologist, studying for a PhD in Music at the University of Cambridge. Dan works as a professional violinist, violist, and conductor, primarily in the field of documentary film. Having recently recorded solo and orchestral strings for ‘Investigating Diana: Death in Paris’ (Channel 4 2023) and the BAFTA-nominated score for the BBC docuseries 'House of Maxwell' (BBC2, 2022), he has also performed on the soundtracks for forthcoming documentaries that are due to be released by Netflix, Disney Studios, and the BBC. Dan also works as a private tutor in an unusually wide range of academic and musical disciplines. With nine years of teaching experience and over 900+ hours of teaching time clocked, Dan teaches Music, History, English Literature and Language, Philosophy, Classical Civilisation, Formal Logic, Writing, Essay and Dissertation Skills, Violin, Viola, and Orchestral Conducting, from a beginner level up to and including an undergraduate level. He is also Conducting Tutor at the Saffron Walden Centre for Young Musicians, where he conducts the orchestra, and also teaches string ensembles and five young violinists in one-to-one lessons. Whilst preparing for his diploma examination in violin performance aged 17, Dan started to teach violin and viola to a variety of students, ranging from children and adults beginning their studies, to more advanced performers looking to improve their technical facility and performance skills in their diploma or degree examinations. He continued this line of work as an undergraduate studying Music at the University of Manchester, and violin with Julia Hanson and Sophie Rosa of the Royal Northern College of Music. As well as maintaining a busy schedule of performance commitments as an orchestral musician, chamber music practitioner and recording artist, both in Manchester, Brighton and in Cambridge thereafter, Dan developed a wealth of experience teaching Music, History, Philosophy, English Literature and Classical Civilisation to A-Level students during his MPhil studies at the University of Cambridge. Based at Wolfson College, he specialised in the cultural history and musical aesthetics of Germany and France in the Long Nineteenth Century during his MPhil studies, and developed skills in formal logic, philosophical analysis, discourse analysis, cultural history, and musical analysis, that he first honed as an undergraduate student. During his MPhil studies he supported four