Philip Tate, a native of London, England, is now in his eleventh year at The College of New Jersey. Dedicated to
enriching the musical life of young people, Dr. Tate has an extensive career in public schools, colleges and universities around the world.
Prior to his TCNJ appointment, Dr. Tate served as Senior Lecturer in Music at Saint Martin’s College in Lancaster, England. His responsibilities included direction of the college orchestra, and choir. He has directed public school ensembles together with district and county youth orchestras including the Hillingdon Borough Youth Chamber Orchestra and has served as Artist in Residence at Hamilton College in South Australia. He has contributed to books on music education and edited music for children published by Boosey and Hawkes in London.
At TCNJ, he directed perfomances of Handel's Messiah with Philadelphia’s Mendelssohn Club Choir and has also established a series of concerto performances featuring TCNJ faculty including performances of Sibelius’s violin concerto with Ruotao Mao, Elgar’s cello concerto with David Szepessy, Rachmaninoff’s Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini with Joanna Chao and most recently Tchaikovsky's 1st piano Concerto with Tomoko Kanamaru. The TCNJ Orchestra has released recordings under Dr. Tate’s direction including Beethoven’s third piano concerto featuring pianist Marvin Blickenstaff. He also led the TCNJ Orchestra on a tour of England with performance in Bath and Worcester. The late Ursula Vaughn-Williams, wife of the well known English composer, attended the orchestra’s final concert in London.
He recently ran a pilot project with members of TCNJ orchestra as part of Dr Teresa Nakra’s research on conducting gestures and their influence on the musical expression of ensemble performers. The study culminated with the Boston Symphony orchestra in a live concert in April 2006. Dr Tate has appeared with his colleague Dr. Nakra on NJN’s State of the Arts television program reflecting on the emotional experience of music.
In New Jersey he continues to be an active adjudicator of orchestra festivals and scholarship auditions and is advisor both the TCNJ chapter of the American String Teachers’ Association and Music Educators National Conference (MENC). He was also Advisor to the committee charged with developing the nationally recognized New Jersey American String Teachers Association Certificate Program for Strings. He has also directed the South Jersey Band and Orchestra Directors Association Region 3 High School Honors Orchestra.
Dr. Tate is also experienced in the musical theater and choral areas. As a singer with the BBC he has performed under such notable conductors as Claudio Abbado, Bernard Haitink, Pierre Boulez and Leonard Bernstein. He was also a member of the Vasari Singers, an award winning major London-based chamber choir, with performances at Canterbury Cathedral and Buckingham Palace for the Royal Family. Both choirs have many recordings and televised appearances to their credit. At TCNJ he has directed performances of West Side Story and Carmen and collaborated with Dr. Michael Mendoza, Director of the TCNJ Chorale, in performances of Beethoven’s Choral Fantasie. As an undergraduate Dr Tate studied piano with Ian Lake, voice with Nigel Wickens and bassoon with John Myatt. He received his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees from the University of London, he also holds an Associate diploma from the Royal College of Music (ARCM). He is a member of the Conductors Guild.
Email: ptate@tcnj.edu