Edmund Whitehead (Guest Conductor)
British-Russian conductor and repetiteur Edmund Whitehead first achieved international recongnition as a Jette Parker Young Artist Conductor and Repetiteur at the Royal Opera House. There he assisted and was mentored by Sir Antonio Pappano, and conducted a new production of Henze’s Phaedra, excerpts from Orfeo ed Euridici, and also assisted Edward Gardner, Richard Farnes and Daniel Oren. He worked as music staff on La Traviata, Hansel und Gretel, La forza del destino, Le nozze di Figaro, Simon Boccanegra, Otello, Werther, Death in Venice, Fidelio, Jenufa and Kat’a Kabanova. In 2020 he was invited back to the Royal Opera to conduct Richard Jones’ critically-acclaimed new staging of HK Gruber’s Frankenstein!! starring Allan Clayton.
In the 2021/22 season he returns to the Royal Opera as offstage conductor for Tosca, Jenufa and Lohengrin, is an assistant conductor with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and returns to the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra for the Winter and Summer concerts in the 22/23 season.
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.
In previous seasons Edmund has conducted Die Zauberflote for children (Polish National Opera), Scarlatti’s La Giuditta, Cavalli’s La Calisto (New Chamber Opera), and Vahan Salorian’s Boys of Paradise (worshOPERA/Tete-a-tete), and assisted on Kat’a Kabanova (Opera National de Lorraine), Un ballo in maschera (Grange Park Opera), Wolf-Ferrari’s Le donne curiose (Guildhall School), Opera Makers (Guildhall, Royal Operal House & Budapest Opera Festival), Das Rheingold (Polish Radio Orchestra) and Don Giovanni (British Youth Opera), for which he also conducted the cover show with the Southbank Sinfonia
Andy Morley (Guest Conductor)
Andrew studied conducting and orchestration at Lancaster University and Trinity College of Music where he graduated with distinction winning the Ricordi Conducting Prize.
Notable work includes Stockhausen’s rarely performed Gruppen for three orchestras, an appearance with the National Youth Orchestra Sinfonietta and performances with soloists such as Stephen Hough, Simon Blendis, Wissam Boustany and David Owen Norris. He has also prepared music for composer Debbie Wiseman, and conductors Barry Wordsworth, Ed Gardner, Nic Daniel, Martin Brabbins and Nicholas Kraemer.
Future engagements include work with Dorking Chamber Orchestra, Essex Chamber Orchestra, Wolsey Orchestra as well as an eleventh trip to European Youth Music Week. Andrew has held teaching posts at Lancaster University, Junior Trinity and Oxford Brookes University and is conductor of the Junior Trinity Symphony Orchestra, St. Paul’s Sinfonia, the BBC Elstree Concert Band and Southampton University Sinfonietta.
In February 2004 he was awarded first prize at the prestigious Allianz-Cornhill Musical Insurance Conducting Competition having received unanimous votes from both jury and orchestra.
Image of Andrew Morley kindly supplied by Simon Ballard
Charlotte Edwards (leader)
While studying for her first degree in Genetics at Edinburgh University, Charlotte had worked independently towards her LRAM Violin Teacher's Diploma which she was awarded at the early age of 19. Having completed a further PhD in Human Biochemical Genetics at University College, London she decided to return to her first love which was playing the violin. She won a scholarship to study for a Master's Degree in Violin Performance at The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston Massachusetts and graduated with distinction 2 years later.
Since then, she has enjoyed a full and varied career as a musician involving teaching and performing. She is currently leader and soloist with The Amersham Festival Orchestra and Academy of St Mary's, Wimbledon and has been leading the Wimbledon Symphony Orchestra since 1981. In addition, she has a busy schedule as a principal player in The Oxford Philomusica and several other professional orchestras. She was a founder member of the Edlian Piano Trio who performed widley in the UK and abroad.The Trio made several recordings, mainly of Russian repertoire and the CDs of the Complete Piano Trios of Anton Rubinstein on the Metronome Label comprise the first and only recordings of several of these pieces. Charlotte is much in demand as a teacher and runs her own private practice with students of all ages ranging from beginners to advanced, offering in addition to individual lessons, the opportunity to participate in chamber music.