PeterWhelan

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  • Conductor
  • Harpsichord

About Peter

Music Director: Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra (from the 2026/27 season) Artistic Director: Irish Baroque Orchestra Curator for Early Music: Norwegian Wind Ensemble

Olivier Award winner, Peter Whelan, is among the most dynamic and versatile exponents of historical performance of his generation. He is Artistic Director of Irish Baroque Orchestra and Curator for Early Music of Norwegian Wind Ensemble. He becomes Music Director of Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra from the 2026/27 season and is Music Director Designate in 2025/26.

As a conductor, Peter has a particular passion for exploring and championing neglected music from the Baroque and Classical eras. Recent engagements have included appearances with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Beethoven Orchester Bonn, Netherlands Chamber Orchestra, Royal Northern Sinfonia, Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana, Kristiansand Symphony Orchestra, Lahti Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The English Concert, Dunedin Consort, Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists, Gluck Orfeo with San Francisco Opera, Vivaldi l’Olimpiade with Irish National Opera (across Ireland and the Royal Opera House, London) and Rodelinda at Garsington Opera.

Highlights of the 2025/26 season include an appearance at the BBC Proms with the Irish Baroque Orchestra and return visits to Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Meininger Hofkapelle, National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland, Tapiola Sinfonietta and Monteverdi Choir and English Baroque Soloists.

Peter’s artistic direction in live performance and the recording studio has been widely praised for its “rich insight, style and charisma” (Guardian), its “stylish verve” (BBC Music Magazine), and “energetic yet unfailingly sensitive direction” (Gramophone). As a champion of early music and opera, Peter represents “the very best of contemporary trends in bringing this music to life: flex and zest with tempi, lithe and vigorous … an incredible alertness to colors and moods summoned by the cut-and-thrust harmonic footwork of this music” (Operawire) and “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 Telegraph).

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Melanie Moult

Melanie Moult

Associate Director
Philip Keegan

Philip Keegan

Associate Artist Manager

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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

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Press

  • 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.

Discography