Philip Carlsen is a nationally recognized composer whose music has been performed by the Portland Symphony, Sebago-Long Lakes Region Chamber Music Festival, Manhattan Marimba Quartet, National Symphony Chamber Players, the Boston-based duo Transient Canvas, and many other groups in Maine and around the country. He has collaborated with choreographer Andrew Bossov, conceptual artist Amy Stacey Curtis, poets Wesley McNair and Lee Sharkey, and such musician/composers as flutist Carl Dimow and saxophonist Frank Mauceri. His activities include directing the Back Cove Contemporary Music Festival at the Portland Conservatory and writing program notes for the Portland Ovations classical concerts. Phil joined St. Mary Schola in 2015. He also plays cello in the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra and the Buttonwood Piano Trio. Since retirement from the University of Maine at Farmington, where he taught from 1982 to 2015, Phil has lived in South Portland with his wife, the poet Jeri Theriault.