ROBERT PHILLIPS is now commissioning a new concerto for guitar and orchestra by Grammy Award Winning Composer Michael Colina. We will continue to post updates on the progress of the concerto, and information about future performances on this website. Listen to Robert talk about the premier and play a short excerpt from the cadenza. Review "The Concerto for Guitar was stylistically fresh and a pleasure to hear. A fusion between the jazzy harmonies and the rhythms characteristic of Spanish dances and tango nuevo made Colina's opus very appealing. Colina's clever treatment of thematic material, skillful orchestration, and virtuosic usage of the solo instrument offered a dynamic listening experience. Phillips tastefully performed the Concerto, with obvious attention to both rhythmic and melodic nuances of the composition. The performer himself commissioned the piece and seemed to resonate intimately with the composition's spirit. Of note was maestro Thielen's effort to ensure that the delicate sound of the guitar did not drown in the large performance hall. One hopes this premiere foretells a continued success of the piece." -Sergiu Gherman, The Ledger Premiere Set The concerto will be premiered by the Imperial Symphony Orchestra in Lakeland, FL on November 11, 2008. Details will be forthcoming.

New York-based composer Michael Colina is equally at home in the classical and jazz worlds. After 25 years of helping others create their music as a multiple Grammy� winning jazz composer and producer, Colina is focusing today on the music that he has always dreamed of creating for himself. His most recent works reflect a new, classical direction, one that pulls threads from jazz, classical, and his Cuban-American heritage. Examples of this new classical direction include The Isles of Shoals, a solo for flute and orchestra; The Idoru Piano Trio for piano, violin and cello; The People, an orchestral work for Richard Kuch commissioned by the Boston Ballet; and a modern dance score, A Time of Crickets, commissioned by Pauline Koner and supported by The National Endowment for the Arts. Colina, born of Cuban-American heritage, studied composition at the North Carolina School of the Arts with Vittorio Giannini, Louis Mennini (brother of composer Peter Mennin) and Robert Ward. He continued studies at the Chigiana in Sienna, Italy with Thomas Pasatieri and Roman Vlad. He was the first recipient of the Vittorio Giannini Memorial Scholarship award. As a jazz writer and producer, Michael Colina has written music for television, film, theatre, dance and the concert stage for more than 20 years, and has produced CDs for greats like Bob James, David Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Marcus Miller, Bill Evans, Michael Franks and Marilyn Scott. He has also worked alongside recording legends like George Benson, Earl Klugh, James Taylor, Linda Ronstadt and Bonnie Raitt, and his music has been performed throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. He has three Gold Records to his name, and has been nominated for four Grammy� awards and won three in the field of Contemporary Jazz. His score for the 1985 Mary Tyler Moore-Robert Preston film Finnegan Begin Again, co-composed with saxophonist David Sanborn, won an ACE Award for Best Film Score.