Philip Mayers

Australian-born pianist Philip Mayers is a multi-talented figure in demand as a lied accompanist, chamber musician, soloist, composer, conductor, arranger, and performer of cabaret song. He has worked for most of his adult life in Berlin. Mayers' father was a pineapple farmer, and no one in his household was musically educated. However, when Mayers was five, his mother began taking piano lessons, and young Philip showed such an interest in them that it was decided to give him lessons as well. He also listened to a radio show called Voices of Renown and developed a familiarity with opera that later stood him in good stead when he took a course in répétiteur (rehearsal accompanist) playing so that he could get into a graduate program. Mayers attended the Queensland Conservatorium in Brisbane, studying with Max Golding and earning an honors degree. He went on for a second degree at the Conservatorium's Opera School. In 1986, he won the Australia's Young Performer of the Year competition. Moving to Europe, he planned to live in Paris but settled in Berlin instead because of its lower living costs; he then fell in love with the city and has never left for long periods. He continued his studies with Philip Moll in Berlin and Zelma Bodzin in New York, adding master classes with Dalton Baldwin and Geoffrey Parsons. In 1997, Mayers made his recording debut, appearing on the soundtrack of the animated television series Oscar's Orchestra. That year, Mayers' opera Trieste was premiered by the Berliner Kammeroper, with Mayers himself serving as conductor. Two years later, he backed Berlin's RIAS-Kammerchor on an album of Schubert choral music. Mayers has had a varied career, but his most frequent position is as accompanist. He appears frequently with both the RIAS-Kammerchor and the Rundfunkchor Berlin and has recorded and appeared on the radio with both groups. Among his vocal collaborators is cabaret singer Mary Carewe, with whom he has performed a "Serious Cabaret" program at major British and continental European venues, including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw. In 2014, he accompanied male alto Zvi Emanuel-Marial on a recording of Schubert's Die Winterreise on the Thorofon label. Mayers has also backed the Cappella Amsterdam choir on several albums, and in 2022, he accompanied the RIAS-Kammerchor on the Harmonia Mundi label in Brahms' Liebeslieder Waltzes, Opp. 52 and 65. Kaleidoscope, a duo record with flutist Sally Walker, appeared in 2023 and in 2025, he worked with mezzo-soprano Alice Lackner and voiceover artist Colin Griffiths-Brown on an ambitious collection of songs by American avant-garde composer George Antheil. ~ James Manheim, Rovi