West Texas Symphony to spotlight bassoonist Philip Hill

When the West Texas Symphony kicks off its 2023 performances Sat., Feb. 4 at 7:30 p.m. at the Wagner Noël Performing Arts Center, Principal Bassoonist Philip Hill will be a prominent part of the musical mix. That evening, the orchestra will feature “WTS Spotlight,” an annual event that spotlights one of its top musicians.

Hill will open the performance that night accompanied by the West Texas Symphony with Carl Maria von Weber’s “Bassoon Concerto in F Major, op. 75.” Weber, who was known for developing German Romantic Opera, composed the piece in 1811 in Munich as a “Beloved part of the bassoon repertoire,” said the Symphony. It referred to the finale of the piece as “celebratory,” during which the bassoonist “explores the full virtuosic capability of the instrument.”

The West Texas Symphony will top off their evening performance with Franz Joseph Haydn’s “Symphony No. 104 in D major.” Calling him “one of the greatest composers in the history of Western classical music,” the Symphony credited Hadyn with creating both the symphony and the string quartet genres.

Hill attended the University of Arizona, where he earned a Master’s Degree in Music Performance, and received his Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education at East Carolina University, per the Symphony. He toured Europe as a teenage musician with the Virginia Ambassadors of Music, and later toured it again with the Prague Summer Nights Festival Orchestra. He has also performed with the Bay View Chamber Music Festival and Opera in The Ozarks Orchestra. In addition to running a private teaching studio in the Permian Basin, Hill is an adjunct faculty member of the University of Texas Permian Basin, and has been a resident artist at the University of Idaho, Youth Orchestras of Lubbock and Midland Montessori School. Check out @Bassoonatlarge on Instagram and YouTube, where Hill offers tutorials on reed making and music for TMEA auditions.

Tickets to this West Texas Symphony performance start at $11 (students $8/with valid college ID or paying adult) and can be purchased here or via phone at 800-514-3849. Tickets to “Symphony SoundBites,” a pre-concert dinner at the Rea-Greathouse Recital Hall at the Wagner Noël PAC and including Maestro Gary Lewis, are available for $26 per person by calling 432-552-4437 (deadline for SoundBites tickets is Jan. 27).