Beloved Australian music identity and Order of Australia recipient Stephen Phillips died earlier this month following a long illness.
Phillips was the General Director of State Opera South Australia from 1989 – 2011 and under his guidance helped the company stage several world-class productions.
He was a respected leader in his field and under his supervision SOSA debuted many popular shows, including Dead Man Walking (2003), Little Women (2007) and Moby Dick (2010).
In 2013, the English-born impresario was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours, in recognition of his services to arts administration in the field of opera.
SOSA confirmed his passing on Wednesday in a statement: ‘Vale Stephen Phillips, State Opera South Australia’s former General Director passed away last weekend.
Beloved Australian music identity and Order of Australian recipient Stephen Phillips (pictured) died earlier this month following a long illness. Phillips was the General Director of State Opera South Australia from 1989 – 2011
‘A strong supporter and contributor to our company’s proud history of firsts including the first Australian-built Ring Cycle in 2004.’
Phillips was born in Stratford-upon-Avon – the birthplace of William Shakespeare – in England and moved to Australia in 1973.
His introduction to the arts scene came that same year when he began working at the Sydney Opera House, shortly after its grand opening.
He was a respected leader in his field and under his supervision SOSA debuted many popular shows, including Dead Man Walking (2003), Little Women (pictured) (2007) and Moby Dick (2010)
The Opera scene was quick to pay tribute to the legend following his passing.
West Australian Opera released a statement saying Phillips was a ‘colleague, friend and advocate for Australian artists.
Stephen had discussed his love of opera in an interview with the ABC in 2010.
‘To start off with I think I’m probably best described as an opera-aniac,’ he said.
‘To me, opera is entirely unique and it has an extraordinary ability to suspend the audience’s disbelief in a way that I believe no other performance art form can. And of course it has to be brilliantly performed to achieve this.’
SOSA confirmed his passing on Wednesday in a heartbreaking statement: ‘Vale Stephen Phillips, State Opera South Australia’s former General Director passed away last weekend
