The Magpie Consort was founded by Karen and David Carpenter in 1998, as a small ensemble specializing in renaissance vocal music. Sheena Phillips became the group’s director in 2000, shortly after her arrival from Edinburgh, Scotland, where she had founded and directed Rudsambee, a similar sized choral group specializing in world music.
Under Sheena’s artistic leadership and direction, the Magpies widened their repertoire enormously and developed a performance schedule that usually included 6-8 performances per year. Performances included collaborations with Rusalka (a Russian folk culture performance ensemble), the Merry Makers (a recorder ensemble), members of the choir of St. Francis Catholic Church (presenting Monteverdi’s Beatus Vir), oboists Carol and Jim Liddle, composer Ron Cook, dancer Meghan Western, and various soloists affiliated with the Columbus Guitar Society.
Sheena also organized a number of summer festival concerts at First Congregational Church, bringing together the Magpies with other Columbus choirs, including Capriccio, the Columbus Children’s Choir, the Columbus Women’s Chorus, the Dublin Singers, the choir of First Congregational Church, and drumming and gospel groups from Capital University and The Ohio State University.
For work reasons, Sheena left Columbus in 2011, and a series of new directors took on the Magpies: Jon Peterson (2011-12), Brandon Moss (2012-13), Aaron Carter-Enyi (2013-15), Christopher Dent (2016-19), and Anne Hurst Todt (Fall, 2019). Chris Dent’s tenure included creative collaborations with the Columbus Modern Dance Company (CoMo) and Cecily renaissance instrumental ensemble, and the Magpies also started working with collaborative pianist Phil Brown Dupont.
The group ceased to meet during the Covid pandemic, and all but folded in 2022. As it happened, however, Sheena and her husband returned to Columbus in 2023. Although the Magpies had by this time lost a lot of members, Sheena took up the reins again and the group has been rebuilding successfully. High points of the last few years include a concert for Ukraine at the end of 2023, a collaboration with Open Door (a non-profit working with developmentally disabled people), and the (belated) celebration of 25 years of the Magpie Consort in 2024.
