Current Biography

Phillip Rukavina performs nationally and internationally as a lute and vihuela soloist, ensemble performer, and as a continuo lutenist.

Phillip is a founding member of the Venere Lute Quartet, the Chambure Vihuela Quartet, and the Terzetti Lute Duo. He is a regular guest instrumentalist with the early vocal group the Rose Ensemble and has performed with numerous singers and instrumental ensembles including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the New World Symphony, soprano Carrie Henneman Shaw, and others. Phillip has been a regular member of the faculty at the Lute Society of America's bi-annual Seminars at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio, and directed the event in 2008 and 2010. He has also directed the lute program at the Amherst Early Music Festival in New London, Connecticut in 2005, 2007, and 2009.

Phillip has three solo lute recordings to his credit, including his recent 2010 release Music from the Casteliono Lutebook 1536. He is featured on two other Studio395 releases with the Terzetti Lute Duo (Due and Stile Moderno, Stile Antico). He performs on two of the Rose Ensemble’s CD releases (Celebremos el Niño and Glory Shone Around). In addition, Phillip appears on two critically acclaimed compact discs featuring the Venere Lute Quartet (Sweet Division and Palestrina’s Lute). A new recording by the Venere Lute Quartet, titled Airy Entertainments, is expected to be released by the Lute Society of America in May, 2011.

Phillip studied lute with Hopkinson Smith at the Academie Musical in Villecroze, France and in Basel, Switzerland, and also with Patrick O’Brien in New York, NY.

Press Quotes:

"...the 14 voices of the Rose Ensemble uncover unexpected wonders in the works…the instrumentalists were equally outstanding, evoking both revelry and reverance through the virtuosic lute of Phillip Rukavina…"

Rob Hubbard, St. Paul Pioneer Press

"...Vivaldi's music-box Largo made the wait worthwhile. The barest whisper of pizzicato in the violins supported [Rukavina's] lute's shimmering figuration. If it were any more delicate, it would cease to exist..."

Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

"The Rose Ensemble passed on the usual keyboards and left it to Phillip Rukavina to play the continuo part on the vihuela da mano, a kind of guitar. Rukavina added lively ornamental lines to the harmonies, the jangly sound carried very well, and the color of the instrument added Spanish flavor..."

Tom Strini, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Press Quotes with the Venere Lute Quartet:

“Chamber concert of the year • The Venere Lute Quartet, memorably presented in an all-Renaissance program in January [2010] by the St. Louis Classical Guitar Society.”

Sarah Bryan Miller, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

"...A world of lightness, space and clarity. Seated around a table, conversing in music with whispered tones, the Venere Lute Quartet helps sharpen our sense of hearing... Un piccolo miracolo!"

Nicoletta Sguben, Amadeus Magazine (Milan, Italy)

"A quartet of lutes opens up a host of exciting possibilities for harmony, intricate rhythms, counterpoint, and syncopation, and they are all delightfully exploited on this disc..."

Beth Adelma, Early Music America Magazine