[9] However the repertoire he chose was idiosyncratic, based in his desire to explore neglected corners of the polyphonic repertories, continental as much as English.

Since winning the Gramophone Record of the Year Award in 1987,[16] the Tallis Scholars have been recognised as one of the world's leading ensemble in interpreting renaissance polyphony.

That 1987 disc inaugurated a career-long project of recording all of Josquin des Prez’s masses, ready for the 500th anniversary of the composer’s death, in 2021.

In November 2023 they celebrated their 50th anniversary with a special concert in the Middle Temple Hall in London Phillips first met the composer John Tavener in 1977, which led to a lifelong friendship.

[19] For many years Tavener was the only living composer to write for The Tallis Scholars,[20] a connection which resulted in pieces such as the Ikon of Light (1984),[21] Let not the Prince be silent (1988), the Lord's Prayer (1999), Tribute to Cavafy (1999) and The Requiem Fragments (2014), which was dedicated to Phillips.

[22] In more recent years Phillips has commissioned Eric Whitacre,[23] Gabriel Jackson,[24] Nico Muhly,[25] Ivan Moody,[26] John Woolrich,[27] Matthew Martin,[28] Christopher Willcock,[29] Michael Nyman, David Lang and in 2014 made a disc entirely dedicated to Arvo Pärt's tintinnabuli style.

Phillips gave his first Promenade concert in 1988, since when he has appeared eight more times, always with the Tallis Scholars, though in 2007 also with the BBC Singers, when the two groups joined forces to give the first modern performance of Striggio's 60-part Mass Ecco si beato giorno.

Phillips and The Tallis Scholars appeared at the Proms on 4 August 2014 to help mark the anniversary of the outbreak of World War I, with a Requiem written for them by John Tavener, televised on BBC 4.

[30] In 1985 Phillips was invited by Philippe Herreweghe to conduct La Chapelle Royale of Paris and the Netherlands Chamber Choir, which sparked a lifelong interest in working with groups trained outside the Anglican choral tradition.

At the invitation of Paul Kelly he visited Lusaka in 2010, directing Vox Zambesi in a concert and a recording, and continuing as a Trustee until 2023.

[56] In 2013 they were voted into the Gramophone Hall of Fame[57] – about 120 names from the entire history of classical recording – the only early music group to be so listed.