B i o g r a p h y
British-Russian conductor Edmund Whitehead first achieved international recognition as a Jette Parker Young Artist Conductor and Repetiteur at the Royal Opera House. There he assisted and was mentored by Sir Antonio Pappano. He conducted new productions of Henze's Phaedra, excerpts from Orfeo ed Euridice, and Richard Jones' critically-acclaimed new staging of HK Grüber's Frankenstein!! starring Allan Clayton.
At the Royal Opera, Edmund worked as music staff on La traviata, Hänsel und Gretel, La forza del destino, Le nozze di Figaro, Simon Boccaengra, Otello, Werther, Death in Venice, Fidelio, Jenůfa, Kát’a Kabanová, Tosca, Lohengrin, Aida, and Salome. He joins the permanent Music Staff of the Welsh National Opera in 2023, making his company debut conducting Blaze of Glory, and frequently works as Assistant Conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Edmund studied at Oxford University, The Guildhall School, where he was later Assistant Conductor Fellow, and The National Opera Studio. He was subsequently a Young Artist at the Polish National Opera, Warsaw, and he also participated in ENOA workshops at Dutch National Opera and the Aix-en-Provence Festival.
Other opera companies Edmund has worked with include the Opéra National de Lorraine, New Chamber Opera, Tete-a-tete Festival, Grange Park Opera, Grimeborn Festival, English Pocket Opera, Opera Studio Oxford, Opera Settecento, Budapest Opera Festival, and British Youth Opera, where he made his professional opera conducting debut with Don Giovanni in 2017.
He has also conducted the Moscow Camerata, Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra, and Cambridge Philharmonic and held full-time conducting positions with the Central London Orchestra, Oxford University Sinfonietta, and the Arcadian Singers. He was Conducting Scholar at Schola Cantorum of Oxford and has worked as chorusmaster for the Cambridge Philharmonic and London Schools Symphony Orchestra.
For a full list of upcoming engagements and performances, please see the Calendar page.
Images by Andy Griffin