“I find great satisfaction in the fact that we – Australia – have one composer who can succeed in a medium of sensitivity in spite of the ugliness and violence predominating in so many countries.”

Thus wrote Dr. Miriam Hyde about the music of Australian composer Phillip Wilcher.

Born in Sydney, New South Wales, on 16 March 1958, Phillip Wilcher commenced piano studies at an early age with Gladys Woodward and Jean Teasel. At 14 years of age, his first piano composition “Daybreak” was published by the publishing house of J. Albert & Son Pty Ltd making him the youngest published composer in Australia at that time.

This piece has been recorded by John Martin on a CD titled Ancient Rivers, released by Publications by Wirripang.

As a result of this piece, Wilcher was accepted as a student of Dr. Franz Holford. It was this association with Holford, spanning seven years, which broadened his musical horizons to take in other genres of creativity including art and literature. One of the many highlights during Wilcher’s student years with Holford was a meeting with Fernando Germani (5 April 1906 – 10 June 1998) who was organist of the Basilica of St. Peter in Rome during the reign of Pope Pius X11. Germani was visiting with Holford at his home in the Sydney suburb of Hunters Hill where the young Wilcher played for him Chopin’s Mazurka in Bb minor, Op. 24 No. 4. At the end of his performance, Germani was so moved by what he had heard he shed a tear.

Further studies with Elpis Liossatos – a graduate of the Franz Liszt Academy in Budapest, and Neta Maughan, together with the valuable guidance from mentors Miriam Hyde and Dulcie Holland rounded off his education.

Wilcher’s music encompasses a broad stylistic range and incorporates harmonies and textures from many different cultures. Where Wilcher has said that as a composer he deals with primarily in textures, does this speak to the notion that Music as a creative force is something much more than mere sound, and that to embrace the musical language of other cultures so tellingly as one’s own speaks to the oneness of Life.

“Musically, Wilcher’s influences are similarly expansive and the impact of classical composers, particularly J.S. Bach, Chopin and Tchaikovsky, is apparent. Even though Wilcher’s work is notable for its exploration of the East, through his utilisation of Japanese scales in Haiga, Arabic in The Walls of Ukhaydir, and Egyptian in Ushabti, there is never a sense of Wilcher compromising his own musical language. Imposing such strict rules on a composition from the outset might be construed as limiting, such as the Kumoi scale of the Kumoi Prelude comprising only five tones Wilcher embraces this – “know your limitations and you can fly anywhere.” One senses that he is employing these musical tools to facilitate his final aim – to know himself – which solidifies Wilcher as a true individualist. “Everything felt second nature,” he said of the exercise. He also questions any notion of conformity to trends or labels – to do so “denies composers their truer sense of self by way of sound.” Consequently, there is an aspect of Wilcher’s music that is free flowing and self-evident.” Samuel Bugeja, Lot’s Wife Magazine, Monash University:

http://lotswife.com.au/self-and-sound-the-music-of-phillip-wilcher

Pianist Jeanell Carrigan has recorded quite a considerable amount of Wilcher’s piano music to CD. Dr. Carrigan said of Wilcher: “Whether he wishes to transport the listener to a cafe in Paris or to the top of a mountain in Java, his skilful use of harmony, rhythm and tempi creates the perfect atmosphere.”

Wilcher exhibits a strong structural sense, maturity and innovation all within a unique stylistic framework, composing for all levels of difficulty ranging from educational music for young children to pieces of supreme intricacy and difficulty. He has received two Australian Record Industry Awards for his educational contribution to the 1991 debut album release, The Wiggles.

During his years of employment at Macquarie University’s Institute of Early Childhood, Wilcher was invited by music lecturer Emily App to conduct a guest-tutorial/master class, centred around the art of Music and music-making for children.

Emily Ap (Music Lecturer): “Students were amazed. I think it took their level of thinking about music to greater heights.”

Alan Rice (The Dean): “The enthusiasm of the master class and the student was very encouraging and a tribute to your commitment and expertise. It is only occasionally that we experience these peaks in our daily activities.”

His music is broadcast by ABC-FM and 2MBS-FM. Two documentary presentations on his music have been broadcast by 2MBS-FM:”Wilcher and the French Connection” by Mike Smith, and “Wilcher’s World” by Jan Brown.

He has written a full-scale piano recital for the virtuoso pianist Simon Tedeschi, and his music has attracted the attention of, and been performed by pianists overseas, notably Gerhard Eckle, Eduardo Fernandez, Lemuel Grave, Adam Jackson, and Emanuel Rimoldi.

Simon Tedeschi: “Phillip Wilcher’s music dreamily evokes another time, another place. It has a searching quality that conjures up images of the great Romantic composers. Phillip wrote a recital for me, which I hope to present soon. Included in that are the ‘Etudes Tedeschi’ which have all the flavour and technical imagination of similar great works in the piano repertoire. I am proud to watch the evolution of this musician and composer who I count as a great personal friend.”

Wendy Reid, Cultured Views (France): “I believe this is a composer who is a unique creation - as if he belongs to another time, another world.. No musician who plays his music comes away the same or feels unchanged by the experience.”

Other musicians who have performed and recorded Wilcher’s works include John Martin (piano), Rachel Tolmie (oboist), Marina Marsden (violinst), Justine Marsden (violist), Elizabeth Neville (cellist), Emily Long (violinist), Melissa Doecke (flautist), Martin Cooke (singer), Neil Fissenden (flautist), David Wickham (pianist), Minah Choe (cellist)

Soprano Ayse Goknur Shanal premiered two songs written for her by Wilcher at the Sydney Opera House, “In The Nape Of a Dream” and “Spirit Song”, which was specifically written at the request of Goknur Shanal for inclusion in her ‘Songs for Refugees’ concert.

“The idea for this concert was a seed I have been watering since September 2015 when I saw the image of the Syrian toddler with the tiny jeans shorts and red t-shirt washed up on the Turkish shores. It broke me,” Goknur Shanal revealed. Together with cellist Kenichi Mizushima and pianist Harry Collins, this monumental evening, was organised by the grassroots network, Mums 4 Refugees, with the proceeds being donated to the charitable law firm, Human Rights for All, which represents refugee cases, on pro bono basis.

“The concert includes works by, Massenet, Puccini, Giordano, as well as the world premiere of Spirit, written by Australian composer, Phillip Wilcher.” (Sydney Opera House press release)

His composition Ballade for Clive Robertson is featured on the ABC Classics CD “Felix and Me.”

Phillip Wilcher is an Elected Life Member of APRA and a Board Member of the Australian Music Teacher Magazine for whom he has written many articles on the music of Chopin, Brahms, Ravel and music education generally.

In 2003 he delivered a paper and workshop at the inaugural Keys Competition in Brisbane on his studies with Dr. Franz Holford called “Himself a Landscape.”

Wilcher has also turned his creative attention towards the written word to include the authorship of several books, “Dialogues”: a narrative on the oneness of being; “Divinity: A dialogue between the self and music at the source”; “The Poetry of the Preludes”, in which Wilcher interprets the preludes of Frédéric Chopin, and his autobiography, “Thinking Allowed: a life in conversation with itself.”

Published by Wirripang in 2016, “Divinity” was Wilcher’s first attempt at personifying Music as a means to determine to what extent his life and been shaped by his art, the overall notion being that what one creates is creating one’s self.

Wilcher: “ I took everything that was taught me about Music by teachers and mentors far greater than myself, and held it with reverence in my heart as one would place a white dove in a gilded cage. I cared for my dove. I observed its every movement. I studied the incline of its neck as it tucked its head snuggly underwing so as not to face the fall of night. I measured the expanse of spirit sails; the fluttering of silver feathers. I listened to the intonation and inflection of its song. Once my learning was complete, I opened the cage door and I set my white dove free. I watched it soar. Would it come back to me? It was not long before my white dove returned. No longer white, it. was splashed with the colours of every rainbow through which it had flown. It came back to me, this beautiful thing, so quickened with the breath of Life to make its song my own and set free what I had been shown. My dove, my love, the symbol of peace and divinity.”

These are telling words. a testament of Faith that were to serve as a healing power for Wilcher following two incidents, the first in 1997 and the second in 2003 that were to further broaden Wilcher’s perception of the Divine. On October 11th, 1997, at 39 years of age, Wilcher was admitted to Concord Repatriation Hospital following a five day history of progressively increasing altered behaviour. A summary of events archived at the National Library of Canberra taken from hospital records and listed by Dr. M. G. Roxanas, who treated Wilcher at the time, touches upon accelerated speech patterns and "flights of ideas", mentioning anyone and everything from a Liberace concert Wilcher had attended as a child with his mother, jumping to other topics appropriate to his life including a Wiggles-related article by Melbourne-based journalist Di Borrell writing for Aussie Post Magazine. The article, which was titled "Too Shy To Wiggle", appeared in print on October 25th, 1997, while Wilcher was at hospital. A diagnosis of Mania was made and Wilcher was treated with Stelazine 5mgs nocte, Valium 5mgs nocte. After several weeks of treatment, Wilcher returned home and to normal employment. Remaining ever steadfast within his Faith embracing his dove, his love, the symbol of peace and divinity, Wilcher recovered.

On March 20th, 2002, Dr Roxanas wrote Wilcher in light of his achievements: "I was thrilled that you are now receiving recognition and furthermore that mental illness is no barrier to a normal lifestyle. I am glad to hear that you are keeping well and I hope that international recognition will also come to you. Please let me know of your progress in life."

In May of 2003, Wilcher was assaulted not far from his home. Three youths wielding a plank of wood with rusty nails in it, beat him about his head and body. Wilcher sustained many injuries including an arterial bleed and a dislocated shoulder. He was near death on admittance to hospital in the early hours of Sunday morning, May 11th, 2003. Wilcher pressed no charges, choosing forgiveness his sole/souls means of recovery, both for himself and for his assailants. Following the attack on him, he penned a letter in Concord's local Courier newspaper offering his concern for, and forgiveness to his assailants.

Brennan Keats, head of Wirripang publishing, contributed some insightful and supportive thoughts about Wilcher’s Faith in the liner notes of Wilcher’s CD Spellbound : "Phillip Wilcher is a man 'spellbound' by a profound spirituality that he rationalises with a natural philosophy that transcends most who live in the superficial world that confronts us today. There is a depth in him expressed by gentleness, kindness and demonstrated by the great love he exudes. All this is tempered by discipline, precision, delicacy and firmness of touch that only the truest, yet finest of musicians can expound. Of all the discs that he has produced, this is the most aptly named, in that it summarises a composer, musician and writer of integrity, and one of those rare beings who rises above all he encounters and yet remains very much one of us."

Closest to Wilcher’s own heart are the three volumes or writings collectively titled “Heart Matters” in which he addresses the concerns of Life and Love in light of Spirit to embrace Music as his primary source of education. Published by Wirripang in 2019, 2020 and 2022 respectively, they represent a side of Wilcher he can only hope his music reflects.

From the preface of “Heart Matters Volume 3” subtitled “Within the Sense of Arrival” Wilcher writes: “I have spent my life studying myself. It is what I do. Even more, it is what I feel I was meant to do. I have always had this feeling, that nothing of Perfection would be achieved so readily in the absolute if ever at all, rather step by step as does way lead on to way even at times all too waywardly but to backtrack a bit and then, to review my view of the world accordingly, stripping each layer away even from itself each day with the thought that possibly, just possibly, there would be nothing left to say. It was never the case.”

Wilcher’s words are as his music, thoughtful but never contrived, sensitive but never overwrought, introspective but never narrow. There is one difference Wilcher recognises, though: “It is quieter composing words than it is writing music.” (Samuel Bugeja, “Lot’s Wife Magazine”, Monash University)

For the past 12 years, Wilcher has been a full-time carer for his father, who at 99 years of age is battling dementia. It is a different fight to the one he fought during World War II as a private in the Australian Military Services, 18th Australian Field Academy. Wilcher himself has said that he needs to remember his father's history more often, particularly during those times his thought processes appear impeded; to "show his compassion through patience" even more. "I am not feeling too good tonight. My head is driving me half crazy, but I suppose it will wear off during my sleep; anyway, I hope so ..." (Leslie James Wilcher in a letter to his wife, Naomi Joy Wilcher.)

More recently, the highly esteemed American composer/pianist/educator, Matthew Bridgham, dedicated the song-cycle "Seasons of Seizing" to Wilcher and Wilcher's father. Bridgham worked closely with a local poet and English professor Liz Whiteacre to create the song-cycle expressing a certain intimacy with temporal lobe epilepsy. Matthew Bridgham: "In summer 2021, I worked with poet Liz Whiteacre (English Professor at the University of Indianapolis) to develop a series of poems based on my experience living with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE). Liz is very skilled at giving a voice to people with disabilities and has done a remarkable job notating my testimonies and crafting them into a beautiful set of ten poems." "Seasons for Seizing" will receive its world-premiere performance at Yale University in November 2022.