Concert: February 3, 2006
Master Class: February 4, 2006
GSP recording Artist Philip Hii has performed extensively in the United States, Mexico, Germany, and New Zealand. His Bach CD has received rave reviews from critics in Germany, England, Japan and the US. It was chosen as one of Guitar Player Magazine’s picks of the month which says, “His passionate rubato and penetrating tone contribute to a thrilling performance.” The Washington Post calls the CD “exciting” and “dazzling.” and Acoustic Guitar Magazine calls him “the Heifetz of the classical guitar.”
A native of Malaysia, Philip Hii started playing the guitar at age ten. After winning a national competition in Malaysia, he left for New Zealand to study law. Hii won the New Zealand National Cup and appeared on national television. He furthered his studies in England and Germany before coming to the United States in 1983. Philip holds a B. Mus degree from Victoria University of Wellington as well as a jazz arranging diploma from Berklee College of Music and a Master of Music degree from the University of North Texas. Additional studies include a year of composition studies with Guenther Becker at the Robert Schumann Institut in Duesseldorf, Germany in the early eighties.
Philip Hii has published numerous articles in Soundboard, Guitar International, Gitarre und Laute, and American String Teacher and is a former Guitar Forum Editor for the AST. Six of his Bach transcriptions have been published by Guitar Solo Publications. His most recent CD, Stream of Consciousness, is a compilation of originals arranged for solo guitar and synthesizers.
“Nobody plays the guitar like Philip Hii; he’s a Heifetz of the classical guitar. Hii’s Allegro is the best I’ve ever heard and the Toccata and Fugue is downright scary. This is must listening for classical guitar buffs who want to blow a few fuses.”
-Diane Gordon Acoustic Guitar Review
“With impeccable technique and outstanding interpretative gifts, Hii succeeds in making these pieces – originally for violin or organ – sound joyfully at home on nylon-string guitar. His passionate rubato and penetrating tone contribute to a thrilling performance that adds a new dimension to the Bach repertoire.”
-James Rotondi Guitar Player Review
“Philip Hii’s approach is not only spirited and gutsy, but is scholarly…one that I recommend to all who want guitar music to rise above the salon and to express a little more than intimate charm…Philip Hii joins the daring band of prospectors who have mined new gold.”
-Colin Cooper Classical Guitar Magazine
