Double bassist and violist da gamba Phillip W. Serna is an active and enthusiastic performer of contemporary, solo, orchestral, and chamber repertoires with a diversity of ensembles appearing with EChO – the Evanston Chamber Opera Company, Illinois Philharmonic, Illinois Symphony, Lake Forest Symphony, Musicians for Michiana, New Philharmonic, Northwest Indiana Symphony, Renovo String Orchestra, the Southwest Michigan Symphony, the Zohn Collective, and many others.
Phillip Serna has emerged among the nation’s leading advocates of the viol – the viola da gamba. Co-founding the historical-performance ensembles Black Tulip, New Comma Baroque, ViolMedium, and the Spirit of Gambo – a Chicago Consort of Viols, he’s appeared across the United States with groups ranging from the Burning River Baroque, the Chicago Early Music Consort, Les Touches, the Newberry Consort, and many others. He can be heard on WFMT Chicago, Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Public Radio, and on releases from Clarion, Cedille, and Varèse Sarabande Records.
Holding Masters and Doctoral degrees from Northwestern University, Phillip teaches at Valparaiso University, North Central College, the Music Institute of Chicago, the J.S. Bach Academy of Music and is assistant director of Illinois’ first public-school period-instrument program at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. Phillip has served on the faculties of the Madison Early Music Festival, the Whitewater Early Music Festival, and is the music director of Viols in Our Schools earning him Early Music America’s 2010 Laurette Goldberg Award for Early Music outreach.
