By Justin Golec
Phillip Collister didn’t always think he’d have a career in the music industry.
“When I was in high school, I planned on becoming an English teacher,” said Collister, a professor of voice and music for the stage at Towson University. “I had a wonderful teacher who always encouraged me to write short stories and I loved doing it.”
It wasn’t until college, Collister said, that he realized what he really loved about language was poetry and music. After enrolling at Marycrest College in 1981, he quickly became enamored with singing and dancing.
“I caught the bug for music in the middle of my freshmen year,” Collister said. “I had a really dynamic voice teacher there who made me realize I had a passion for performing and I’ve been doing it ever since.”

Photo by Justin Golec
Once he graduated from Marycrest, he went on to earn a Master of Music from Northwestern University in 1986 and a Performance Certificate in Voice and Opera in 1987. Collister began traveling to perform shortly after, and has seen his career take him from New York City all the way to Germany.
“I love traveling, especially to Europe,” Collister said. “It’s a different culture and I always encourage my students to travel as much as they can because it gives them a whole new perspective of the world and how they fit in it.”
However, traveling frequently comes with multiple challenges. Collister believes the toughest thing to do when on the road is staying healthy.
“The schedule is usually grueling,” Collister said. “There’s long hours involved and there’s a lot of things going on behind the scenes. When you’re tasked to perform or direct a show, you need to know how to keep yourself healthy, both mentally and physically.”
After years of performing and being on the road, Collister said, he decided it was time to settle down in one place.
In 1996, he went to University of Maryland College Park, where he earned a Doctor of Musical Arts in voice and opera. For the next two years, he taught part time at three different schools before finally accepting a position at Towson as an adjunct professor in 1998. After serving as an adjunct professor for one year, he was hired full time in 1999.
“Most people say you always go where the job is,” Collister said. “Luckily for me, this happened to be the job I loved and wanted.”
Over the next 17 years, Collister would go on to accomplish many feats at Towson. He was the producing artistic director of the Maryland Arts Festival from 2001 to 2006 and helped secure funding for the Kurt Weill Festival in 2010. Also in 2010, Collister founded Opera in a Can, a children’s opera company that is co-run by Collister and some of his students.
“I love bringing what I do to children because I feel an experience like opera is important in a young person’s development,” Collister said. “I feel it’s our responsibility as educators to try and develop future audiences and people who want to be involved in this art form.”
Collister is now serving as music and stage director for the upcoming production of two one-act operas, which includes Puccini’s “Suor Angelica” and Randall Thompson’s “Solomon and Balkis.”
Courtney Wersick, a Towson senior who plays the butterfly’s wife in “Solomon and Balkis,” said Collister is one of the most supportive leaders she’s ever known.
“I am personally grateful that he has given me so many chances to add really incredible works to my resume,” Wersick said. “He is truly invested in all of us, our education, and our talent– we are so lucky to have him.”
Ava Toppo, who plays Balkis in “Solomon and Balkis” and La Suora Infermiera in “Suor Angelica,” said Collister’s dedication to each production is what makes him so special.
“His love for the music and what he does is evident every day in his work,” Toppo said. “He truly believes in all of his students.”
Collister said he considers his greatest accomplishment at Towson to be helping students realize their full potential.
“By encouraging students and just throwing them in the deep end of the pool, I hope it has caused them to grow as human beings and become more self-actuated in their own lives,” Collister said.