John Richard Noel "Jack" Phipps (24 December 1925 – 6 August 2010) was a British

arts administrator Arts administration (alternatively arts management) is a field in the arts sector that facilitates programming within cultural organizations. Arts administrators are responsible for facilitating the day-to-day operations of the organization as we ...

Origins and education

Phipps was born at

Chipata Chipata is a city and administrative centre of the Eastern Province of Zambia and Chipata District. It was declared the 5th city of the country, after Lusaka, Ndola, Kitwe and Livingstone, by President Edgar Lungu on 24 February 2017. The cit ...

(then "Fort Jameson") in

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in Southern Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by Amalgamation (politics), amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North ...

(now

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

), the son of John Nigel Phipps, a tea planter.The Daily Telegraph
''Jack Phipps''
(obituary; 15 September 2010) The Phipps family originated in Wiltshire, John Nigel Phipps being the great-grandson of the coffee merchant

John Lewis Phipps John Lewis Phipps (1801–1870), of Leighton House, Westbury, Wiltshire, was a merchant trading with Brazil, who was briefly Conservative MP for Westbury (1868) and High Sheriff of Wiltshire (1864). He was the second son of Thomas Henry Hele P ...

.Burke’s Landed Gentry, ''Phipps of Chalcot'' Phipps was educated at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (school founder), John Lyon, a local landowner an ...

(briefly), St John’s College, Johannesburg, and at

Merton College, Oxford Merton College (in full: The House or College of Scholars of Merton in the University of Oxford) is a Colleges of the University of Oxford, constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Its foundation can be traced back to the 126 ...

Career

After a four-year spell as a management trainee at the ''

Daily Mail The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily Middle-market newspaper, middle-market Tabloid journalism, tabloid conservative newspaper founded in 1896 and published in London. , it has the List of newspapers in the United Kingdom by circulation, h ...

'', Phipps went to work for Ian Hunter at the Harold Holt music management agency in 1954, before he and his wife set up their own management agency in 1965. Their clients included

Benjamin Britten Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten of Aldeburgh (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, o ...

(who was also godfather to Phipps’s son

Martin Martin may refer to: Places Antarctica * Martin Peninsula, Marie Byrd Land * Port Martin, Adelie Land * Point Martin, South Orkney Islands Europe * Martin, Croatia, a village * Martin, Slovakia, a city * Martín del Río, Aragón, Spain * M ...

Pilar Lorengar Lorenza Pilar García Seta (16 January 1928 – 2 June 1996), known professionally as Pilar Lorengar, was a Spanish ( Aragonese) soprano. She was best known for her interpretations of opera and the Spanish genre Zarzuela, and as a soprano she w ...

Jessye Norman Jessye Mae Norman (September 15, 1945 – September 30, 2019) was an American opera singer and recitalist. She was able to perform dramatic soprano roles, but did not limit herself to that voice type. A commanding presence on operatic, concert ...

and

Jill Gomez Jill Carnegy, Countess of Northesk (''née'' Gomez; born 21 September 1942) is a Trinidadian and British soprano who enjoyed an active career on the operatic stage and in the concert hall in a wide repertoire, and has made many recordings. Lif ...

. During his career Phipps forged close links with many musicians, including

Colin Davis Sir Colin Rex Davis (25 September 1927 – 14 April 2013) was an English conductor, known for his association with the London Symphony Orchestra, having first conducted it in 1959. His repertoire was broad, but among the composers with whom ...

Daniel Barenboim Daniel Moses Barenboim (; born 15 November 1942) is an Argentines, Argentine-Israeli classical pianist and conductor based in Berlin, who also has Spain, Spanish and State of Palestine, Palestinian citizenship. From 1992 until January 2023, Bare ...

Bernard Haitink Bernard Johan Herman Haitink (; 4 March 1929 – 21 October 2021) was a Dutch conductor and violinist. He was the principal conductor of several international orchestras, beginning with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961. He moved to Lond ...

and

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin (22 April 191612 March 1999), was an American-born British violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in Britain. He is widely considered one of the greatest violinists of the 20th century. ...

. The Guardian
''Jack Phipps obituary''
9 September 2010 In 1969, Phipps acted as co-director of the

Bath International Music Festival The Bath International Music Festival was held late each spring in Bath, South West England between 1948 and 2016. The festival included many genres such as Jazz, Classical, World and Folk and merged with the Bath Literature Festival in 2017 to c ...

. This led to an approach from the

Arts Council of Great Britain The Arts Council of Great Britain was a non-departmental public body dedicated to the promotion of the fine arts in Great Britain. It was divided in 1994 to form the Arts Council of England (now Arts Council England), the Scottish Arts Council (l ...

, which in 1970 asked him to organise regional tours of opera, ballet and drama. In his capacity as director of touring, he did much to encourage the development of the regional opera companies and regional theatre.The Stage
''Jack Phipps''
(obituary, 23 August 2010) Apart from a brief interlude as general manager of the

Aldeburgh Festival The Aldeburgh Festival of Music and the Arts is an English arts festival devoted mainly to classical music. It takes place each June in the town of Aldeburgh, Suffolk and is centred on Snape Maltings Concert Hall. History of the Aldeburgh Festi ...

, he remained at the Arts Council until his retirement in 1991. In the year of his retirement, he was appointed

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

Personal life

Phipps was married twice: firstly to Anne Nichol Smith, in 1950, with whom he had two children, Polly and Simon; and secondly to Sue Pears (the niece of Sir

Peter Pears Sir Peter Neville Luard Pears ( ; 22 June 19103 April 1986) was an English tenor. His career was closely associated with the composer Benjamin Britten, his personal and professional partner for nearly forty years. Pears' musical career started ...

) with whom he had a son, the composer

Martin Phipps Martin Phipps (born 1 August 1968) is a British composer who has worked on numerous film and television projects. Early life and education He is the son of Sue Pears and Jack Phipps, an arts administrator who had previously founded a manageme ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phipps, Jack British arts administrators People educated at Harrow School Alumni of Merton College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire 2010 deaths 1925 births Alumni of St John's College (Johannesburg)