Barry and Shelley Phillips

Barry (cello) and Shelley (oboe/English horn/Irish harp) are much in demand as studio and pick-up musicians for the professional folk crowd. As well as playing as a duet, they play and tour with the Coulter/Phillips Ensemble and many other local groups. Internationally, Barry plays with sitarist Anoushka Shankar, nyckelharpist Olov Johannsson, English guitarist Martin Simpson and Scottish fiddler Sarah-Jane Summers. Shelley has toured with Irish singer Éilis Kennedy and Irish piper Paddy Keenan. They are currently collaborating with Rumi translator and poet Coleman Barks, making two albums of poetry and music: The Rose and Five Things to Say. Barry and Shelley have appeared on over 20 recordings on the Gourd music label. The albums produced by and featuring Barry are Cello, Trad, and The World Turned Upside Down and albums featuring Shelley are The Fairie Round, Pavane and The Butterfly. Their duet album is Wondrous Love. Most of their titles may be found at gourd.com . Barry and Shelley have Masters of Music degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory, and are continuing their education on sabbatical where Barry is studying with Pandit Ravi Shankar and Shelley is studying with Sanjeev Shankar. In addition to performing and recording, Barry runs a recording studio, and enjoys woodworking along with his semi-evil twin from the alternate universe, Woody Phillips. Shelley is the founder and director of the Community Music School of Santa Cruz, where she runs Celtic Camps for children and teens, concerts, workshops, and other programs, including a recording label with albums of Christmas, Shaker and Shape Note music to benefit the school ( communitymusicschool.org/cds ) She also works as a music director within the Episcopal church, makes bamboo flutes with the English Piper's Guild and directs the Santa Cruz Shape Note Society. Barry and Shelley live on the foggy California coast with two very spoiled cats.