Phillip Serna

Double bassist and violist da gamba Phillip W. Serna is an active and enthusiastic performer of contemporary, solo, orchestral, and chamber repertoires with a diversity of ensembles appearing with 5th Wave Collective, EChO – the Evanston Chamber Opera Company, Illinois Philharmonic, Illinois Symphony, Lake Forest Symphony, New Philharmonic, Northwest Indiana Symphony, the Southwest Michigan Symphony, the Zohn Collective, and many others. In addition, Dr. Serna has emerged among the nation's leading advocates of the viol - the viola da gamba. Co-founding the Chicago-area historical-performance ensembles Black Tulip, New Comma Baroque, the Spirit of Gambo and ViolMedium, he’s appeared across the United States with groups ranging from Burning River Baroque, the Chicago Early Music Consort, Les Touches, the Newberry Consort, and many others. He can be heard on WFMT Chicago, Wisconsin Public Radio, Milwaukee Public Radio, on releases from Clarion, Cedille, and Varèse Sarabande Records as well as his upcoming solo album Shattered Glass - New Music for Viola da Gamba by Women Composers. Holding Masters and Doctoral degrees from Northwestern University, Phillip teaches double bass at Valparaiso University and North Central College; double bass, viola da gamba and viol consort at the Music Institute of Chicago, and served as assistant director and sponsor of viol consorts and Illinois' first public-school period-instrument program at Adlai E. Stevenson High School. Phillip has served on the faculties of the Madison Early Music Festival, the Whitewater Early Music Festival, and is the music director of Viols in Our Schools earning him Early Music America's 2010 Laurette Goldberg Award for Early Music Outreach. Phillip’s online virtual viol consort project - Consorts-Minus-One - has been recognized in major string music publications the world over. For more information, visit https://ffm.bio/phillipwserna.