PeterWhelan

/
  • Conductor
  • Harpsichord

About Peter

Music Director: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (from the 2026/27 season) Artistic Director: Irish Baroque Orchestra Artistic Partner with National Symphony Orchestra Ireland (from January 2026) Curator for Early Music: Norwegian Wind Ensemble

Peter Whelan is one of the most sought-after conductors in historically informed performance, an Olivier Award winner whose direction is praised for its ‘rich insight, style and charisma’ (The Guardian), its ‘stylish verve’ (BBC Music Magazine), and ‘energetic yet unfailingly sensitive direction’ (Gramophone).

Peter is Music Director of the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, following his appointment as Music Director Designate in 2025/26. His inaugural season opened with a widely acclaimed production of Handel’s Tolomeo, hailed by The New York Times as “downright joyous”, with Parterre Box declaring Whelan and the orchestra “off to a splendid start.” He also serves as Artistic Director of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Artistic Partner of National Symphony Orchestra Ireland, and Curator for Early Music of the Norwegian Wind Ensemble.

As a conductor, Peter has a particular passion for exploring and championing neglected Baroque and Classical repertoire. Recent engagements include the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Tapiola Sinfonietta, Kristiansand Symphony and the Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists.

Highlights of the 2026/27 season include returns to the BBC Proms with the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, National Symphony Orchestre Ireland, Irish Baroque and Philharmonia Baroque Orchestras, alongside debuts with the Oxford Philharmonic, Stavanger Symphony and Royal Scottish National Orchestras.

Opera continues to form an important part of Peter’s artistic life. His production of Vivaldi’s Bajazet for Irish National Opera and Covent Garden received the 2022 Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Opera. Recent highlights include his Garsington Opera debut conducting Handel’s Rodelinda with The English Concert, Tolomeo with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, praised by The Wall Street Journal for the orchestra’s “stylish swing and careful balances”, Mozart’s Don Giovanni with the Irish Baroque Orchestra at Blackwater Valley Opera Festival, and his English National Opera debut in 2026/27 with Gilbert & Sullivan’s Trial by Jury and The Zoo.

Peter’s discography reflects his commitment to rediscovering overlooked repertoire and bringing fresh perspectives to established masterpieces. His recording of Handel’s Messiah with the Irish Baroque Orchestra (Linn Records) received widespread critical acclaim, including Gramophone’s Editor’s Choice, BBC Music Magazine’s Choral Choice, BBC Radio 3’s Record of the Week, France’s Choc de Classica, and a five-star review in The Times. The New York Times hailed it as “an exceptional recording”, while The Guardian declared Whelan “one of the new leading names in baroque music.”

Download programme biography   

Contact

Rachel Bertaut

Rachel Bertaut

Senior Artist Manager
Philip Keegan

Philip Keegan

Associate Artist Manager

Follow Peter

Season Highlights

Aug 2025
Royal Albert Hall, BBC Proms, London
Handel Alexander's Feast Irish Baroque Orchestra & Chorus Peter Whelan (harpsichord and director) Hilary Cronin (soprano) Hugh Cutting (countertenor) Stuart Jackson (tenor)
Sep 2025
University Aula, Oslo, Norway
Grieg Holberg Suite Telemann Water Music Handel Water Music Det Norske Blåseensemble Peter Whelan (harpsichord and director)
Dec 2025
The Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh
Mozart Serenade KV 320 ‘Posthorn’ Mozart Arias from Mitridate, La clemenza di Tito, Così fan tutte and The Marriage of Figaro Mozart Overture Der Schauspieldirektor Scottish Chamber Orchestra Peter Whelan (harpsichord and director) Tara Erraught (mezzo soprano) Maximiliano Martín (clarinet) Peter Franks (posthorn)
Mar 2026
Wigmore Hall, London
Mozart Symphony No. 1 in E flat Mozart ‘Venga pur’ & ‘Gia dagli occhi’ from Mitridate Gluck Dance Suite/ Dance of Furies from Orfeo Gluck ‘Che faró’ Mozart Symphony No. 4 in D major J.C. Bach ‘Vo solcando un mar crudele’ from Artaserse' JC Fischer Variations on 'Gramachree Molly’ for oboe and orchestra. Giordani ‘Caro mio ben’ Giordani Overture 'Island of Saints' & Irish Medley Arne ‘Vengeance, o come inspire me’ & 'Water parted from the Sea' from Artaserse Irish Baroque Orchestra Peter Whelan (harpsichord and director) Hugh Cutting (countertenor)
Apr 2026
Espoo Cultural Centre, Tapiola, Finland
Bach B minor Mass Tapiola Sinfonietta Helsinki Chamber Choir
Jun 2026
St Martin In The Fields, London
Haydn L'Anima del filosofo (Orfeo ed Euridice): Overture Haydn Cello Concerto No.2 Johann Christian Bach Symphony in G Minor, Op. 6, No. 6 Haydn Symphony No.104 in D major ('London') Monteverdi Choir & Orchestra

Video

Photos

News

Press

  • Handel's 'Tolomeo' with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (Tour)

    Jul 2026 - Jul 2026

    • His conducting was downright joyous — a promising start to his tenure. Peter Whelan, Philharmonia Baroque’s new music director, led ‘Tolomeo’ with crisp energy. Particularly winning was his emphasis on the moments of dissonance in Handel’s score; Whelan gently drew these tensions out, underlining the emotions without overplaying them.

    • The orchestra played as alertly as ever under Whelan’s animated direction. Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra intended to launch Peter Whelan’s inaugural season… with a bang. And it did.

    • There was never a moment of hesitation under the careful, masterful control of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra’s recently appointed music director Peter Whelan. The Irish maestro held his starring role facing the audience, … building and relaxing Handel’s dramatic tensions with a knowing precision that enveloped us all — orchestra players, singers, and audience — into one sentient ensemble.

    • For me, the real story was the debut of Philharmonia Baroque's fourth Music Director, Peter Whelan, whose stunning musicality rippled through the entire performance. Whelan paced the tempos perfectly, from the tenderest to the fiercest, steadily supportive of the singers and attuned to the joyous variety of Handel's arias.

    • Whelan's conception of this music, by contrast, is bigger, richer, bolder. Whelan's tenure could not have got off to a more auspicious beginning; I can't wait to see what further treasures await.

  • Album Review: Handel's 'Messiah' with Irish Baroque Orchestra

    Linn Records
    Mar 2026

    • ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Peter Whelan’s sizzling interpretation with the Irish Baroque Orchestra sets out to duplicate the spirit and quirks of the work’s first performances in Dublin.

    • ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ My spirits were uplifted almost throughout the recording. A current of gentle zephyrs refreshes every bar of the music...

    • Whelan is set to be one of the new leading names in baroque music.

    • “Messiah” takes on new life in this exceptional recording

  • Handel's 'Alexander's Feast' BBC Proms

    Royal Albert Hall, London
    Aug 2025

    • ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Whelan’s approach to this work is as gently beguiling in the quiet arias as it is brazen in the big choruses. With his four natural horns in fearlessly rumbustious form, and strings and winds adding telling expressive nuances to every phrase, this was playing of all-round distinction.

    • Handel's fluency, though, is breathtaking, with recits sounding like arias, solos and duets giving way to elaborate choruses, and the master of it all last night was the sinuous and word-insistent Whelan, one of those conductors like Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla through whom music seems to flow like an electric current. From the Overture onwards, crescendos grew to incomparable lushness, while hushed dynamics were used to draw the listener in over the big spaces.

    • Under Peter Whelan’s dramatically ecstatic direction, Alexander’s Feast came across as overtly operatic rather than a hybrid work …

    • Throughout, the orchestra was stunning, hardly missing a beat. Phrasing felt perfectly judged throughout; this reading is clearly the result of much thought on Whelan’s side.

    • Peter Whelan drew a remarkably communicative and urgent performance from all his players … Whelan managed to make every note vital, filling the hall with vibrant sounds yet also conveying the meaning of the work with the importance of music.

  • Handel's 'Rodelinda' at Garsington Opera

    Garsington Opera, Wormsley Estate
    Jun 2025 - Jul 2025

    • Peter Whelan's energetic yet unfailingly sensitive direction of the English Concert was well-calibrated in every last measure.

    • ...the English Concert and their musical director Peter Whelan brought Handel’s fabulous score to life in a performance of surpassing rhythmic energy, richly dramatic colouring and heart-breaking lyrical grace.

    • The English Concert playing with earthy punch under Peter Whelan’s dynamic direction, this is a tremendous 300th-anniversary tribute.

    • The cast is first-rate, the playing of the English Concert thrillingly energised. Conducted by Peter Whelan, they support the singers yet never give the impression of holding back.

  • Handel's 'Israel in Egypt' with Monteverdi Choir and Orchestra

    Palau de la Música Catalana, Philharmonie Luxembourg, St Martin in the Fields and Elbphilharmonie
    Mar 2024 - Mar 2024

    • An extremely effective reading with a sharpness that Whelan molded exquisitely.

    • Peter Whelan's direction played a crucial role, ensuring perfect harmony between choir and orchestra and intensifying the spiritual experience of the work. His mastery in balancing moments of great expression and those of intimate reflection captured the emotional and spiritual essence of "Israel in Egypt.

    • Nothing can be criticized of the detailed direction of the "substitute" Peter Whelan, always dynamic, brilliant and with absolute precision.

    • A thrilling performance of Handel's Oratorio - a sense of joy and release vividly conveyed under Peter Whelan's direction.

    • ★★★★★ This vivid choral work could hardly have sounded more exhilarating. Directing from the keyboard, he was mostly on his feet, all but dancing from start to finish. The orchestral playing was buoyant as well as sensitive, the choral work dazzling...Versatile is an inadequate description for this multitalented, Irish-born musician. affect with a pulsating energy and intensity that gave goosebumps.

    • The Monteverdi Choir and the English Baroque Soloists under the direction of Peter Whelan overwhelmed the audience at the Elbphilharmonie... He wants to touch and overwhelm. And he succeeds, unleashing a stunning intensity. It's hard to bring this music, which is almost three hundred years old, to life in a more exciting, modern and rousing way.

    • ★★★★★ With shimmering gestures, Whelan connected with his musicians, teasing out every theatrical affect with a pulsating energy and intensity that gave goosebumps.

  • Gluck: Orpheus and Eurydice - San Francisco Opera

    San Fancisco Opera
    Dec 2023

    • Overseeing the performance was Irish conductor Peter Whelan, an early-music specialist whose first appearance in San Francisco revealed an artist of delicate but unmistakable mastery.

  • Bajazet, Vivaldi - Irish National Opera

    Royal Opera House
    Jan 2022

    • How three hours flew by under the hands and harpsichord of conductor Peter Whelan, leading a spry Irish Baroque Orchestra. It’s a truism to point out that the pit matters so much for the tension and energy of any production, but seldom do we get to see (and hear) such an intense interlocking of dramatic and musical energies between stage and orchestra.

  • Bajazaet, Vivaldi - Irish National Opera

    Royal Opera House
    Jan 2022

    • Everything is considerably helped by the incisive sounds of the Irish Baroque Ensemble, directed from the harpsichord by Peter Whelan — one of those magicians who seem able to exert total control using little more than enthusiasm and moving the tips of his ears.

  • Haydn and Mozart - BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra

    St Mary's Parish Church Haddington
    Sep 2021

    • It was very ably conducted by Peter Whelan, a fine Irish conductor who plays piano and bassoon as well as conducting and is a specialist in Baroque music. He was certainly very much at home in the ‘sweet sections’ of the concert, namely the opening and closing symphonies of the programme by Haydn and Mozart.

  • Vivaldi's 'L'Olimpiade' with Irish National Opera

    Irish Tour, Linbury Theatre (Royal Opera House) London, Nouvel Opéra Fribourg
    Apr 2024 - Jun 2024

    • ★★★★☆ The excellent Irish Baroque Orchestra play wonderfully for Whelan, who conducts with great elegance and elan.

    • ★★★★☆ What keeps this piece going is its constant energy and drive, and that was captured to the full here by the small, taut forces of the Irish Baroque Orchestra, driven with crackling propulsion from the harpsichord by Peter Whelan.

    • In this touring production, directed by Daisy Evans and conducted by Peter Whelan, the Irish Baroque Orchestra is in its most concentrated form as a 10-piece ensemble. Their teamwork creates a brilliant web of sound, bringing out new colours, rhythms, and vibrant textures as the story unfolds.

    • This is the third Vivaldi opera that Irish National Opera has presented in the past five years, and the standard of the orchestral playing, which has always been high, keeps on rising. For this performance of “L’Olimpiade,” the Irish Baroque Orchestra, under the musical direction of Peter Whelan, produced a superb performance of real quality.

  • Handel's 'Tolomeo'

    Discography