Violinist and violist Philip Payton enjoys a diverse career in New York City, throughout the country and abroad. He is currently in the orchestra of Broadway’s West Side Story as well as performing regularly with the symphonies of Sarasota, Harrisburg, New Jersey, Gotham Chamber Opera and others. He also performs with Ritz Chamber Players, Argento Chamber Ensemble, Chamber Dance Project. He has also played in the productions of Phantom of The Opera, Wicked, A Tale of Two Cities, Crybaby and Spring Awakening on violin, viola and electric guitar.

Philip had the privilege of accompanying F. Murray Abraham (Salieri) of Amadeus fame on his debut baritone recital at Carnegie hall earlier this year as well as playing on the Shakespeare in the Park soundtrack of Twelfth Night with Audra McDonald and Anne Hathaway. He also can be heard on Joanna Newsome’s latest album, Have One on Me, the movie Soulmen, the upcoming docu-drama The Wildest Dream and on the recent Grammy Award winning cast recording for West Side Story.

Philip was a member of the New World Symphony, serving as concertmaster and principal violin under Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop, Yan Pascal Tortelier and others. He attended the Pacific Music Festival in Japan and the Nationaal Jeugd Orkest in the Netherlands, toured Rome with the New World Symphony as alumnus, and served on the faculty of the Eastern Music Festival. He has performed with Aretha Franklin, Smokey Robinson, Barbara Striesand, Tony Bennett, Billy Joel, Savion Glover, Lenny Kravitz, Josh Groban, Jose Carerras, Luciano Pavarotti and several others as well as performing on Saturday Night Live, the show Sex and the City and Sex and the City 2 — the motion picture.

Philip is extremely pleased to be returning for his sixth season to Walla Walla Chamber Festival.