Classical Sound

Pianist Toby Blumenthal Phillips is a Steinway Artist and has appeared as a soloist with many ensembles including the Chicago and Houston Symphony Orchestras. She has received high acclaim for her numerous chamber music performances with members of the Philadelphia Orchestra, duo recitals with her late husband, Philadelphia Orchestra cellist, Bert Phillips, and other internationally renowned artists. A native of Chicago, she is a graduate of Northwestern University School of Music, and the University of Houston (graduate studies). Her post graduate studies were with Leonard Shure at the University of Texas in Austin, and Rudolph Serkin at Marlboro Chamber Music Institute in Vermont.

Toby and her late husband, Bert Phillips founded The Luzerne Music Center and the Luzerne Chamber Music Festival in Lake Luzerne, NY in 1980 where they shared executive and artistic directorships and where she continues to teach and perform. Toby and Bert were also Founders and Co- Artistic Directors of Classic Chamber Concerts in Naples, Florida where they performed in the Luzerne Trio (Raymond Gniewek, violin), and the Philadelphia Piano Quartet (Norman Carol, violin, Lamar Alsop, viola,) for fifteen years.

Toby now resides in Texas and was Director of the CHAMPS (chamber music in public schools) for Salon Concerts in Austin, for the ten years. She was Artistic Director and pianist for several seasons for the Classic Chamber Concert in Georgetown and Round Rock and is currently Artistic Director and Pianist for Classical Sound. She has performed for the past twelve seasons in the Georgetown Festival of the Arts, participated in The Mozart Festival Texas in San Antonio, the Texas Bach Festival in Georgetown, and most recently, the Mason Chamber Music Festival.

With a tone and musicality described as “pure chocolate,” Patrick Hughes has soloed in recitals throughout the US, at annual regional horn conferences, and at 10 International Horn Symposia.  In 2006 he performed the Asian premiere of Kazimierz Machala’s Concerto for Horn, Winds and Percussion in Bangkok, Thailand. He has also been a featured soloist with various ensembles at the University of Texas (most recently performing the Hamburg Concerto by György Ligeti), as well as the Northwestern University Percussion Ensemble, the St. Olaf Orchestra, and the Dallas Wind Symphony. The Dallas Morning News described Hughes as “…a dream soloist…His tone was warm and honeyed, his virtuosity and legato both apparently effortless.”  

Mr. Hughes wears many hats at the Butler School of Music:  Associate Professor of Horn, Director of Graduate Studies, and Head of the Brass, Wind and Percussion Division. He also enjoys an active and varied musical life as pedagogue, soloist, chamber and free-lance musician, and composer.  He is a much sought-after guest clinician, teaching masterclasses and lecturing at Universities and Conferences across the US and abroad. In May of 2013 he went on a teaching/performing tour in Australia, where he worked with the students and performed solo recitals at the Queensland and Sydney Conservatories.  In a recent return to composition and arranging he has produced a number of pieces for the award-winning UT Horn Choir, most notably: From Hildegard, Dancing on the Hill, The Wexford Carol, and True Colors. His music is published through Brownwood Music Publishing, and in addition to the horn choir pieces, his works for horn and piano include Morrison’s Jig, Send in the Clowns, and Pange Lingua.

He can be heard as a contributing artist on the recordings Thoughtful Wanderings…compositions by Douglas Hill; MidWinter (with Minnesotan singer/songwriter Peter Mayer); New Mexico Winds; Devisadero, works by Christopher Shultis, and Barber: An American Romantic: Conspirare.  His new Solo CD, Crossroads (featuring Colette Valentine and the UT Horn Choir), is scheduled to be released in December of 2018.

Mr. Hughes is a current member of the Advisory Council for the International Horn Society, and serves on the Meir Rimon Commissioning Assistance Fund board. He plays a custom Patterson.

Canadian native Patrice Calixte began playing violin at age 8, and after excellent training as a teenager, went on to study with Claude Richard, at Université de Montréal where he obtained his Undergraduate and Master’s degree in music performance. Patrice has worked with many orchestras in Québec and Ontario, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra where he played for two years.

Leaving Calgary in search for more development, Patrice moved to Austin in 2016 where he completed his Artist Diploma at the University of Texas with Professor Daniel Ching of the Miró Quartet as his mentor. Patrice currently serves as Associate Concertmaster of the Austin Symphony Orchestra, and the Concertmaster of the Austin Opera Orchestra and is the first violinist of the Artisan String Quartet. Patrice Calixte performs on a violin made in 1910 in Florence by Valentino de Zorzi, kindly on loan from Lorraine and John Wang.