Philip grew up in Canberra where he studied violin with Vincent Edwards and Miwako Abe and sang in the Canberra Children's Choir under the direction of Judith Clingan. He was a member of the Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Australian Youth Orchestra while studying Arts/Law at the ANU. Following an 11-year career in financial markets, which took him to Sydney, Tokyo and Singapore he returned to Canberra in 1997 and completed a BA (Mus) degree in viola performance at the ANU School of Music.

Philip was the Conductor and Musical Director of the National Capital Orchestra in Canberra from 1999 to 2012. He has conducted works by composers ranging from Vivaldi and Handel through to Prokofiev, Stravinsky, Mahler and Shostakovich. He received Canberra Times Critics’ Circle Awards for his work with the NCO in 2003 and 2006. He conducted several concerts in which the NCO was joined by the ANU Choral Society (SCUNA), including performances of the Mozart Requiem and Mahler's Symphony No 2. He also conducted the Llewellyn Choir and Orchestra in a benefit performance of Handel's Messiah for victims of the Canberra 2003 bushfires.

Philip has been the Monties' Conductor and Musical Director since he moved to Narooma in 2013. He is a doctor in the Emergency Department at Moruya Hospital.