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

Edmund Whitehead is a British-Russian conductor and pianist, currently Assistant Conductor and Répétiteur at the Royal Danish Opera, where he recently made his conducting debut with Idomeneo. He is also Head of Music at Waterperry Opera Festival. Previously, he was Music Staff Conductor and Répétiteur at Welsh National Opera and Jette Parker Opera Conductor and Répétiteur at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.In 2026, he was awarded Third Place (Special Mention) at the Georgi Atanasov International Conducting Prize in Bulgaria.He studied at Oxford, Guildhall, the National Opera Studio and the Opera Academy of the Polish National Opera, before continuing his conducting studies with Damian Iorio and Professor Alexander Polishchuk of the St Petersburg Conservatory, both pupils of the distinguished Russian pedagogue Ilya Musin.At the Royal Opera House, he worked closely with and was mentored by Sir Antonio Pappano, and has conducted Henze's Phaedra, Gluck's Orfeo ed Euridice and HK Grüber's Frankenstein!!. At Welsh National Opera he has conducted Death in Venice, Gianni Schicchi, Blaze of Glory and Play Opera LIVE, alongside numerous concerts and workshops with the WNO Orchestra.He has also conducted at the Polish National Opera, British Youth Opera, the State Symphony Capella of Russia, Pazardzhik Symphony Orchestra, the orchestras of the National Opera of Lorraine and the Komische Oper Berlin, Staatsorchester Stuttgart, Southbank Sinfonia, Kammerphilharmonie Graz and Moscow Camerata. He has also worked as assistant conductor with English National Opera and the London Philharmonic Orchestra.Alongside his conducting, Whitehead maintains an active career as a pianist, appearing at venues including Wigmore Hall, Shanghai Grand Theatre, St John's Smith Square and Conway Hall. He works regularly in recital and rehearsal with leading singers.He has taught at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, the Royal Danish Academy of Music and the Royal Opera House's Jette Parker Artist Programme, and has been a guest lecturer in leadership at CODE University of Applied Sciences in Berlin. He is committed to supporting and nurturing his fellow artists at all stages of their careers.

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