Philip Sinder

About Philip

Philip Sinder is professor of tuba and euphonium at the Michigan State University College of Music. His students are found in performance and teaching positions throughout the United States and abroad, and have won awards in numerous performance competitions.

Sinder has performed with many leading ensembles, including the Detroit Symphony, Chicago Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, Mariinsky Orchestra, and Houston Symphony. He has served for many years as principal tuba with the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and has appeared twice with the LSO as a featured soloist. Other notable solo appearances include the United States Army Orchestra and the Grand Rapids Symphony.

Sinder is also a founding member of the Brass Band of Battle Creek and performs frequently with the Grand Rapids Symphony, Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit Chamber Winds, and the Beaumont Brass Quintet of MSU. His solo tuba recording, “Aerodynamics," has received strong critical acclaim, and he has performed on over 20 large ensemble and brass quintet recordings.

Sinder served as an associate editor for the 2006 Indiana University Press book, “Guide to the Tuba Repertoire." In 2009, Sinder was the recipient of the inaugural Withrow Excellence in Teaching Award at Michigan State University, and in 2017 he received the International Tuba Euphonium Association Excellence in Teaching Award.

He currently serves as chairman for the Leonard Falcone International Euphonium and Tuba Festival, and since 2005 has been a Valade Teaching Fellow at the Interlochen Arts Camp.

Sinder earned a Bachelor of Music Education and Performer’s Certificate from the Eastman School of Music and a Master of Music degree from Wichita State University.

I enable and motivate each student to become a better ensemble player and soloist, and in doing so they become their own best teacher.