Sellick, Phyllis (1911—)
Sellick, Phyllis (1911—)
English pianist. Born in Newburg Park, Essex, England, on June 16, 1911; married Cyril Smith (a pianist), in 1937.
Born in 1911, Phyllis Sellick studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London and then with Isidor Philipp in Paris. She married Cyril Smith in 1937 and often appeared with him in works for two pianos written by British composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Lennox Berkeley. In 1938, she gave the world premiere of Michael Tippett's First Piano Sonata. Sellick and Smith continued their duo-piano partnership even after he suffered a stroke that cost him the use of one of his hands; from that point on, they performed piano music arranged—or in some instances composed—for three hands. Sellick began teaching at the Royal College of Music in 1964 and was initiated into the Order of the British Empire in 1971.
John Haag , Athens, Georgia