Harmonic Phil

Music has always been a core part of Philip J. Seaver-Hall’s life. He started learning piano and guitar at age 5, and, at 10, began studying a new instrument. “I quickly fell in love with the viola’s rich, dark sound,” he says. 

“It became my primary instrument from then on.”

With aspirations of becoming a professional classical musician, he kept at it and earned an invitation to audition at Juilliard soon after he turned 18. Then came a sour note. 

“I choked in the audition and ended up going to my second-choice school instead,” says Seaver-Hall. But the unexpected detour paid off. “Blowing that audition is one of the best things that ever happened to me: It led me to Mercer University, where I met my wife.” 

Over the next couple of years, he wound up playing with some of the nation’s leading classical musicians. He also recorded with Mike Mills of R.E.M.

“Ultimately, though, about halfway through college, I felt a pull in a different direction: toward the law. And here we are,” says Seaver-Hall, who’s now a litigator at Knox McLaughlin Gornall & Sennett in Erie—and also chairman of the Erie Philharmonic’s Board of Governors. “While I don’t practice my instrument as often as I used to, music is still a key part of my life.”