Phil started playing Suzuki method violin at age four and switched to viola in high school. He attended the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival with a string quartet under scholarship from the Philadelphia String Quartet and toured Europe with the Collegium Ensemble from Western Washington University. He has his Bachelor’s degree in Music and Audio Engineering from Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, OH. Phil met Dean and Dudley Evenson while running sound for the Kulshan Chorus in 1994. They soon after invited him to join the Sounding of the Planet family. “Peace Dance” by Scott Huckabay was the first Soundings album that he was responsible for as lead engineer and co-producer. These days he wears many hats at Soundings of the Planet including licensing, contracts, digital distribution, and royalties as well as performing viola on and engineering the recordings. Phil plays a solid body electric 5 string violin with Millie and the Mentshn, which gives him the ability to play both violin and viola voices. The fact that the instrument happens to be bright green is just an added bonus! Phil and his lovely wife Toby have a miniature dachshund named Ox