Welcome to Secret Perdu :
Welcome to Secret Perdu, the brand name Phil Taylor uses to promote his composition, arranging and performance.
Programme Biography :
A composer in many genres, Phil Taylor's electronic ambient works are released on iTunes, his compositions have been performed by The West Point Band, Swiss Contemporary Music Festival, Annelle Gregory, Kathryn Tickell and The Side, Maksim Velichkin, Nautilus Brass Quintet, Courtney Sherman, CoMA Leeds, Windy Valley Ringers, LivingVoid Project, H2 Saxophone Quartet, Artdesamis Piano Trio, Walking Wiltshire White Horses Project, Livas Clarinet Quartet, and Dr Liana Valente. Larger scale compositions have been workshopped by the Maggini Quartet, Emily Howard, Sally Beamish and Michael Finnissy. Phil is winner of the 2015 YLSS New Music Competition. Phil plays clarinet, saxophones, violin, viola, cello, double bass and piano and has played with the Northern Wagner Orchestra, CoMA Leeds, Leeds Haydn Players, the Halifax Symphony Orchestra and chamber groups in the Leeds UK area.
More Information :
From the age of six Phil studied clarinet, then later piano, followed by saxophones and flute. While at secondary school in Darlington Phil performed with local youth bands at several Schools Proms at the Royal Albert Hall and also toured America with them. Also in the 70’s he attended the John Dankworth and Cleo Lane summer schools, the composition aspect included working with composers Mike Gibbs and Neil Ardley in jazz and electronics. At City University he studied music; ethnomusicology, and composition and studied clarinet at the Guildhall School of Music. At City he also gained experience in the recording studio and this led to session work in London, both playing and arranging.
Phil moved north to follow a career in computing, and music became a hobby for many years. He learnt strings with the help of Yorkshire Late Starters String Orchestra, starting with double bass then moving on to violin, cello and viola, passing ABRMS Grade 8 in violin and cello. He has played with the Northern Wagner Orchestra, Leeds Haydn Players, Leeds CoMA ensemble, Halifax Symphony Orchestra, and a number of small chamber groups in the Leeds area. Phil recently started french horn to gain some insight into brass and augmented his experience of orchestral instrumentation.
In the last few years Phil has become an enthusiastic composer, writing for all kinds of ensembles. He has used many different computer systems but has now settled on the Mac, using Sibelius for scored works and Reason for electronic and ambient works. In addition to writing for commissions, he enters a lot of competitions giving the opportunity to have his work performed and also benefiting from the discipline of a deadline. After many years working in Information Technology Phil now completely fills his time with a combination of composing, arranging, performance and teaching.
