Philip Simms began his musical career as a keyboard player at the Royal Academy of Music, where he studied organ under C H Trevor. He was sub-organist at St Margaret's Westminster for four and a half years, and simultaneously at the Abbey during a seven-month interregnum, before moving to live in Greenwich in 1964. He was promptly asked to become organist and choirmaster at the Hawksmoor parish church of St Alfege, where Thomas Tallis, the "Father of English church music" is buried.

At the Academy he had also begun to learn the double bass, and after a period of National Service in the band of the Royal Horse Guards (where he also played cornet and undertook State Trumpet duties), was soon playing with the English Chamber Orchestra in their heyday. As sub-principal double-bass he travelled widely, working in Aldeburgh with the English Opera Group and Benjamin Britten, and playing with many celebrities running in parallel, and in 1965 began to give concerts in Greenwich with his newly-founded Thomas Tallis Society.

Until then he had directed mostly church choirs and small consorts, and had formed the Tallis Consort, a group of young professionals (including for a while Felicity Palmer and Alastair Thompson), who accompanied him for a decade to Dartington Summer School. His conducting experience expanded, with major choral works in Greenwich, which in turn led to conducting other orchestras, including the English Chamber Orchestra itself - and so a third line in his musical life was launched. Since then, he has built up a formidable repertoire as conductor, instrumentalist, and choirmaster, and is equally at ease directing Baroque music from the harpsichord as he is conducting major choral works or the wide repertoire of St Alfege's church choir. For years he performed many works by Britten - including Noyes Fludde, produced by John Cox and involving many local schools and indeed most of musical and theatrical Greenwich - and he has made a point of commissioning new pieces by young composers for the Thomas Tallis Society.

Philip's creative energy and ability to inspire others, and especially to produce exciting and memorable performances, led to many first public concerts in familiar local venues: the Royal Naval College at Greenwich was persuaded to open its doors - with a performance of Berlioz L'Enfance du Christ - heralding two decades of Mobil Season concerts, at the Great Hall at Eltham Palace (where a performance of Purcell's King Arthur anticipated a revival of that work); at Greenwich Theatre and the Queen's House, venues which proved particularly suitable for his imaginative thematic programmes of words and music; and more recently, at Blackheath Halls, as well as, of course, at St Alfege where the Society is based. The Society also featured prominently in the early years of the Greenwich Festival and continues to give its popular "picnic" performance, mainly of Handel oratorio, each year. (In 2001, the Trinity College of Music moves into the King Charles building, in part of the Old Royal Naval College.)

In 1982, seeing the need for a smaller, more mobile and adaptable choir, Philip formed the Tallis Chamber Choir, able to travel abroad and to perform, broadcast and record, not only with him but with well-known conductors and orchestras. Yet another string to his bow is his musical directorship of a small amateur orchestra, the Tallis Chamber Orchestra, which performs with professional leader and soloists, after an intensive weekend of rehearsal, mostly in Suffolk where he has strong musical connections. Some Tallis Chamber Orchestra members are members also of the Thomas Tallis Society Orchestra usually heard in Greenwich. The Orchestra of the Millennium - heard for the first time at the New Year Gala Concert (2 January 2000) - has been formed from local professional musicians.

This year, 2001, the Thomas Tallis Society embarks on its 36th season. They and Philip Simms (now organist emeritus at St Alfege) have become inseparable from the life of Greenwich, and it is hoped that they will continue making music here for many years to come.

Thomas Tallis Society Secretary:
tel/fax +44 (0) 208 691 8337

http://www.thomas-tallis-society.org.uk/