Radiance Within by Phillip Schroeder

Phillip Schroeder’s latest album, Radiance Within, offers a luminous and meditative collection of seven original works for violin and piano that provide solace and clarity in an increasingly chaotic world. Rooted in a desire to create music that invites rather than demands, Schroeder’s compositions emphasize introspection, beauty, and emotional depth—qualities that feel both timely and timeless.

Radiance Within continues Schroeder’s exploration of sound as a spiritual offering. These works suggest presence rather than performance, space rather than spectacle. Each piece unfolds with gentle precision, weaving melody, counterpoint, subtle textures, and elegant nuance. The result is music that is both viscerally attractive and intellectually engaging—a rare balance that encourages inner stillness.

With critical praise describing his music as “luminous, meditative, and deeply spiritual” (Richard Moule, Signal to Noise) and “full of elegant nuance” (Ron Schepper, Textura), Schroeder’s voice is distinct yet universal. He draws on a lifetime of diverse musical experiences—conducting orchestras, performing in experimental ensembles, playing in rock and jazz bands, and singing in choirs. These influences are integrated and transformed, emerging in works that are unmistakably his own.

The album features collaborations with two remarkable artists:
Violinist Margaret Jones, whose wide-ranging career has included performing with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, touring with Mikhail Baryshnikov, and playing on Broadway and in concert tours with Natalie Cole and others; and
Percussionist Alan Zimmerman, whose eclectic background spans work with Seiji Ozawa and the New Japan Philharmonic to experimental performances with New Mexico’s Death Convention Singers.

Track Highlights:
“Radiance Within” – Floating and elegant, weaving intimate counterpoint that feels deeply personal.
“An Awakening” – Powerful bell sonorities and glissandi evoke elemental forces of the earth.
“Being in Wonder” – A tender, lyric work commissioned by Chris Opperman, full of innocence and purity.
“Avian Fields” – A suite of short pieces and fragment pairs, echoing natural cycles and bird life.
“Nocturne” – Gentle variations unfold like moonlight through drifting clouds.
“Stillness at Night” – Dreamlike and expansive, with fragments stretching across wide registers.
“Shed the Pedestrian” – A lively, fearless satire of movement, rhythm, and ascension.

After decades in academia and performances across the U.S. and Europe, Schroeder has graduated to a quiet life and broad skies on 40 acres in southern Colorado. From this place of stillness, Radiance Within emerges—a gift of peace and presence in a restless world.

After decades in academia and performances across the U.S. and Europe, Schroeder has graduated to a quiet life and broad skies on 40 acres in southern Colorado.