Trained as a choirboy at St Paul’s in London, and probably a pupil of William Byrd, Philips left England in his early twenties to follow his faith as a Catholic, working for three years as organist at the English College in Rome. He then travelled widely with his English patron Lord Thomas Paget before settling in the Spanish Netherlands as organist to the Archduke in Brussels. His published vocal music ranges from intimate motets for two voices and continuo to large- scale pieces in the Venetian cori spezzati style, as well as some deeply expressive five-part examples that combine his understanding of strong contrapuntal textures with more up-to-date Italianate word-painting. Philips also published Italian madrigals in six and eight parts, and a number of beautifully crafted pavans and galliards also survive in manuscript.