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My name is Philip Sumner, born in Helensville, near Auckland, New Zealand, in October 1959. I'm 1.8 m/5 ft 11" tall, a Libran, a Pig (in Chinese astrology, that is) and still single. Generally, I'm a bit of a work-a-holic and wish there were more hours in the day to get everything I want to do done. My interests are primarily in music: composing, arranging and parts copying; but also travel, house renovation, movies, dining out and............(well, I'm open to suggestions !).

I'm the Principal Bassoonist in the Auckland Philharmonia, New Zealand's largest city's 67 strong professional orchestra. However, I didn't start in music, although I grew up in a naturally musical environment - good genetic stock, so they say. My first seven years after leaving Massey High School were primarily in banking and insurance work. This included over four years living in Sydney, Australia. Although I eventually returned to Auckland to work in the (then) family business of manufacturing carpet, I was fortunate a position in the Philharmonia became available. For nearly 16 years now I've been involved in a great variety of performances: classical and lighter music; opera and ballet. Between March 1992 and late July 1994, I was also the orchestra's Music Librarian. I returned as Assistant Librarian from Sept 1998 to Aug 1999 incl.

I try to keep my hand in with some carpentry projects in my spare time, having built a four bedroom house, with the help of my Father, Bill, a few years ago and am doing some creative renovations to my current house. However, travel overseas has since diverted my attention and is likely to for many years to come.

If that wasn't enough, I bought my first Macintosh computer in 1995 and ever since have spent countless hours working on music projects, including my own compositions and copying of parts. Access to the Internet has opened up another new world, including working on this homepage site.

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