He played, taught and shared music

Bert Gates Phillips, 73, a cellist with the Philadelphia Orchestra who shared his appreciation of classical music with thousands of children, died of leukemia Wednesday at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.

Mr. Phillips, formerly of Wallingford, had homes in Naples, Fla., and Lake Luzerne, N.Y.

Before retiring in 1990, Mr. Phillips played with the orchestra for 31 years. He felt fortunate that his mother encouraged his playing, and he wanted to give young people the same opportunity to appreciate and to perform classical music, his son, Robert, said.

In the 1960s, Mr. Phillips performed in Philadelphia public schools in a federally funded program. In 1973, he cofounded the Delaware County Youth Orchestra with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer George Crumb and other musicians. He conducted the Temple University Youth Orchestra, taught music classes at Temple's Center City campus, and gave private lessons.

In 1981, he and his wife, pianist Toby Blumenthal, opened the Luzerne Music Center, a summer music camp in the Adirondacks for junior and senior high school students. The camp is 18 miles from the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, where the Philadelphia Orchestra performs every summer, and he recruited orchestra members to teach.

Mr. Phillips initiated, organized, and performed in the chamber music concert series at Wallingford Community Arts Center for many years and also directed the chamber music program at the Media Theatre.

In 1987, he told a reporter that he particularly enjoyed chamber music because the "audience can musically appreciate the individual artist. That's almost impossible in an orchestral setting, where the sounds of the individual musician are absorbed by the overall sounds of the orchestra."

Mr. Phillips was a 6-foot-2 "big bear" of a man, his son said, and produced a big sound when he played.

In the 1960s he was a founding member of the Springfield Chamber Society, which premiered a work by Crumb. For 20 years, Mr. Phillips played with other Philadelphia Orchestra members in the Philarte String Quartet. He performed with his wife with the Philadelphia Piano Quartet and was founder and artistic director of the Classic Chamber Concerts of Naples.

Since 1990 he continued to play with the Philadelphia Orchestra in Saratoga Springs every summer. His last orchestra performance was Aug. 21. Four days later he played at his summer camp's Luzerne Festival Finale and played with a chamber ensemble in Upstate New York in September, shortly before his hospitalization.

A native of La Crosse, Wis., Mr. Phillips began cello lessons when he was 6, and at 14 soloed with the La Crosse Symphony. He earned a bachelor's degree and master's degree in music from Northwestern University. He played in the orchestra of the Lyric Opera in Chicago and with the Grant Park Orchestra in Chicago and the Cleveland Orchestra before coming to Philadelphia.

Mr. Phillips enjoyed the people, cultures and foods in countries he toured, his son said. His greatest pleasures, aside from music, his son said, were grilling outside in any season, sailing or rowing on Lake Luzerne, and lying in the hammock by the lake listening to sounds of campers practicing their instruments.

In addition to his wife of 32 years and his son, a professional singer, Mr. Phillips is survived by a daughter, Nancy Hoffman, a pediatric nurse and flutist; stepchildren Julie Downey, Amy Ezell, Ruth Mallory, and Barry and Paul Blumenthal; 11 grandchildren; and his former wife, Joyce Bowen. A daughter, Susan, died in 1973.

A celebration of his life will be at 1 p.m. Friday at Christ Church, Second Street above Market Street, Philadelphia.

Memorial donations may be made to the Luzerne Music Center, Box 35, Lake Luzerne, N.Y. 12846.