Philip Leech

Philip Leech’s singing life began in Chester Cathedral as a treble and a lay clerk. After winning a scholarship to the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in 1981, he studied singing with Ellis Keeler, Rudolph Piernay, Michael Pilkington, James Bowman and Paul Hamburger. Philip
was awarded the Guildhall Masonic Chapter Prize in 1985. As a founding member of the professional chamber choir ‘Western Wind’, he collaborated with the Hilliard Ensemble, in performances of Passio and
Miserere throughout Europe and Japan, including the Proms, and recordings for ECM and for Channel 4. He has performed in operas including La Waly and Ariodante in 1985, Tancredi and Mignon in 1986 at the Wexford Festival, and at the Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro,
Tancredi and Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

Philip is now principally active as a soloist in the East Midlands, where engagements have included performances of the major works of the oratorio repertoire, including Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s The Seasons and The Creation, Monteverdi’s Vespers, Beethoven’s Mass in C and Bach’s St Matthew Passion and Christmas Oratorio (as Evangelist). Philip also sings with the Wolf Ensemble, and Leicester Cathedral Choir, with whom he sang for the reinterment of Richard III. Philip was a co-founder of Anthology of Song with Motje Wolf, which was established for the purpose of creating opportunities
for the performance of lieder and art song in venues around Leicestershire, including a small song festival at Leicester Cathedral.