Edmund Whitehead

British-Russian Conductor and Pianist

"All praise to conductor Edmund Whitehead" The Telegraph ★★★★
"Whitehead conducts with great care and attention to detail" The Guardian ★★★★

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Biography

British-Russian Conductor and Pianist Edmund Whitehead first achieved international recognition at the age of 24 as a Young Artist at the Royal Ballet & Opera, Covent Garden, where he assisted and was mentored by Sir Antonio Pappano, and conducted Henze's "Phaedra," Orfeo ed Euridice, and HK Grüber's "Frankenstein!!" to critical acclaim. He then joined Welsh National Opera full-time, conducting Death in Venice, Gianni Schicchi, Blaze of Glory, and dozens of concerts, workshops, and rehearsals with the WNO Orchestra and Chorus. In 2025 he joins the Music Staff of the Royal Danish Opera, where he will assist on Tosca and Rigoletto.Orchestras Whitehead has conducted include the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Welsh National Opera Orchestra, State Symphony Capella of Russia, Moscow Camerata, Orchestra of the National Opera of Lorraine, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Orion Orchestra, Kammerphilharmonie Graz, and the Southbank Sinfonia. He has also worked as Assistant Conductor with the London Philharmonic and English National Opera orchestras.Whitehead trained at Oxford, Guildhall, the National Opera Studio, and on Young Artist programmes at the Polish and Dutch National Operas, and Aix-en-Provence Festival. He received conducting tuition from Sir Antonio Pappano, Edward Gardner, Vladimir Ponkin, Stuart Stratford, Karen Kamensek, Dominic Wheeler, Timothy Redmond, Mark Shanahan, Alexander Ingram, Mikhail Tatarnikov, and José Maria Florêncio, and has participated in masterclasses by Colin Metters, Toby Purser, Ariane Matiakh, and Julia Jones.As a pianist Edmund has performed at most of London's top venues including Wigmore Hall, St John's Smith Square, Conway Hall, Wilton's Music Hall, and the Royal Opera House, and played for most of the world's star singers, including Jonas Kaufmann, Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo, Juan Diego Flórez, Ludovic Tézier, Christian Gerhaher, and Ferruccio Furlanetto.

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