Musician

Jessica Phillips won the position of Second Clarinet and E-flat Clarinet in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra in 2001. She served as Acting Principal Clarinet during the 2003-2004, 2011-2013, 2014-2016, and 2021-2023 seasons. In 2013, she received the honor of having her clarinet chair named by Ruth and Harvey Miller. She holds an MBA in Arts Innovation from the Global Leaders Institute, and graduated cum laude from Barnard College, Columbia University, with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science. While at Barnard, she was accepted into the joint lesson program at the Manhattan School of Music, where she studied with Ricardo Morales. Her other teachers included David Weber, Ted Oien, and Todd Levy.

Throughout her career, she has appeared as Guest Principal Clarinet with the Chicago Symphony, as well as performances with the Philadelphia Orchestra, Bavarian State Opera Orchestra, Mainly Mozart Festival, Napa Valley Music Festival, Lakes Area Music Festival, Orchestra of St. Luke’s, American Ballet Theater, Santa Fe Opera, St. Bart’s Music Festival, Caramoor, the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, and the American Symphony Orchestra. An active chamber musician, Jessica has performed at Carnegie Hall numerous times with the Met Chamber Ensemble, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s chamber music and education series, the Kingston Chamber Music Festival, San Luis Obispo Mostly Mozart Festival, and appeared in concert with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Philadelphia Orchestra. She can be heard on numerous “Live From Lincoln Center” performances with the Grammy award-winning Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, select Philadelphia Orchestra recordings on the Ondine label, numerous commercial and motion picture soundtracks, and the Emmy award-winning PBS broadcasts with The All-Star Orchestra.

Jessica has given masterclasses and performed in recitals all over the world. In 2017, she was featured in a solo recital tour presented by Backun Musical Services and the Dolce Musical Instrument company in Korea and Japan. She has performed in recital at the Oklahoma Clarinet Symposium, Lisbon International Clarinet Meeting, International Woodwind Festival, and Peabody Conservatory. She has performed at the International Clarinet Association’s ClarFest in Japan, Canada, and Nebraska, where she was a featured soloist with the Lincoln Symphony Orchestra. She has most recently been invited to give masterclasses at NYU, Stony Brook University, Frost School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Northwestern, Western Washington University, University of Alabama, Juilliard Summer Winds, and Boston Conservatory. 

She serves on the graduate studies faculties of the Manhattan School of Music Center for Career Readiness and Community Impact and The Juilliard School, where she also teaches lessons specializing in E-Flat Clarinet. She regularly conducts wind sectionals at Juilliard Pre-College and the New York Youth Symphony. She made her conducting debut with The Juilliard Pre-College Wind Ensemble in a live-streamed performance in 2021. She has served on the faculties and performed at the Pacific Music Festival in Japan, the Miami Music Festival, Rutgers University Mason Gross School for the Arts, and the Verbier Festival in Switzerland.

A Backun and a Silverstein Artist, Jessica has worked closely with Backun Musical Services to promote and design products for E-Flat clarinet and has also collaborated with Backun Musical Services on over twenty educational YouTube videos, some garnering over 30K views.