About Anna Phoebe
Anna Phoebe McElligott ) is a London-based violinist, composer, and broadcaster who performs in musical genres including contemporary classical, rock, folk, jazz, Celtic, and Middle Eastern music.
Anna Phoebe was born in Hamburg, West Germany, to a Greek-Irish historian father and a German children's social worker mother. A native German speaker, she learnt English upon moving to Manchester, England at the age of four. After a period living in Michigan in the United States, Phoebe and her family settled in St Andrews, Scotland.
Phoebe began playing the violin at the age of seven, encouraged by her mother, who is also a violinist. She read social policy and government at the London School of Economics. Around the time of her studies, she also worked with some Labour Party politicians.
Having continued to play the violin throughout university, after graduating Phoebe devoted herself to music, working as a session musician for producers, bands, and singers in a variety of genres.
A breakthrough in Phoebe's career came in 2003 when she successfully auditioned to become a member of the Trans-Siberian Orchestra . She joined the TSO West Coast Band in 2004 and was invited back for the 2005–07 seasons, making her the first string director and soloist to return for a fourth year running. She toured in 2008 as part of the band, including three-month tours each Christmas through 26 states of western and central USA. She performed nearly 70 dates in arenas to audiences of up to 15,000 people; venues included the American Airlines Center in Dallas, the Save Mart Center in Fresno, HSBC Arena in Buffalo, New York, and the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas. Phoebe decided to move on from TSO in August 2010, stating: "I feel that I have taken my role as TSO violinist as far as it can go and it is time for me to hand the bow to someone else."
As a session artist, Phoebe has been hired by musicians including Sean "P Diddy" Combs, Robin Gibb, Ronan Keating, Liberty X, George Michael, and LeAnn Rimes. She has appeared on various television shows, including Top of the Pops, The Michael Parkinson Show, MTV and GMTV; as well as at music festivals, including Glastonbury and The Big Chill.
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