Phillip C. Roberts is a composer and performer with a penchant for music theory. His compositions range from peacefully ambient to rhythmically driving, with touches of inspiration from the places he’s lived. From his home state, Virginia, comes an air of Appalachia, while he currently resides near Cincinnati, one of the contenders for the birthplace of funk.

Each of Roberts’ compositions is a passion-project, often tied to art, architecture, or literature. His chamber opera, Madeline Usher, provides an updated take on “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allan Poe, while his orchestral work, The Library, mirrors the supposed proportions of the Library of Alexandria before its untimely conflagration. The former was recorded in 2019 by an international cast, from Oxford, Ohio, to Ankara, Turkey. Other pieces by Roberts have been featured in plays, short films, and radio broadcasts, and he was a featured guest on the Maneuvering Music podcast talking about one of his art song cycles. Some of the commissions Roberts has fulfilled include compositions for the University of Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, the Luray Singers, and the opening of the Forbes Center for the Performing Arts. John Hilliard, Marilyn Shrude, and Michael Fiday are among the composers with whom he has studied.

As a pianist and organist, Roberts is an active recitalist, championing not only his own works but those of his fellow composers. In so doing he has premiered pieces by Evan Williams, Sara Corry, and others. Roberts is the keyboardist for Trio Apéritif, an ensemble he recently co-founded together with violinist Annette Misener and cellist Michael Ronstadt. He is also the organist and choir director for Holy Trinity Episcopal in Oxford, Ohio. Formerly, he played keys with Fox Soxx and the Trinity Edralin band. He was a pianist for the Cincinnati Ballet and has toured the East Coast and United Kingdom as an accompanist for vocalists and choirs.

Roberts advocates for diversity in the arts, with a focus on neurodiversity. In conjunction with Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and the Cincinnati Ballet, he was for three years the pianist at CB Moves, a program providing dance classes geared toward children with developmental disabilities. Recently, he partnered with the Lynx Project in Chicago to create a program wherein Roberts’ composition students write art songs setting poetry by primarily non-speaking individuals with autism. It is a rewarding, collaborative effort between the authors and composers, who are put in-touch via email, and Alison Acord’s voice students, who perform the songs in a livestreamed concert event. Roberts is additionally on the committee for the Red Door Community Concerts, a diversity-centered concert series, and has written music for a radio-play put on by residents of the Wilson Children’s Home.

Arts education is an area to which Roberts has devoted himself, and he is perhaps foremost above everything else a teacher. Roberts is a Visiting Assistant Professor of Composition and Music Theory at Miami University and teaches at Interlochen Center for the Arts during the summer. Between the two, he has been an instructor for the Music Theory and Aural Skills curriculum, Counterpoint, Computer Music, Composition Seminar, and individual Composition Lessons. Roberts strives to create moments of discovery and artistic fulfillment for students through methods that help them feel connected to the subject material, and ultimately give them the creative thinking tools to make such discoveries on their own.

D.M.A., University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
M.M., Bowling Green State University
B.A., James Madison University