Born in Weymouth, England and educated as an Organ Scholar at Clare College, Cambridge, a repetiteur and opera conductor at the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music and Liszt Academy, Budapest, Dominic Wheeler now enjoys a varied career conducting opera, symphonic repertoire and dance all over the world.
He has conducted opera for ENO, including performances of Das Rheingold, Siegfried, War and Peace and Les Troyens, Opera North, Scottish Opera, ROH at the Linbury, Hungarian State Opera, Opera de Nice, New Zealand Opera, English Touring Opera, Opera Holland Park, Chelsea Opera Group and Independent Opera, whose double bill of operas by Elizabeth Maconchy was recorded for Chandos and whose production of Debussy’s Pelleas et Melisande was shortlisted for an RPS Award.
On the concert platform he has conducted the Philharmonia, BBC Philharmonic, BBC Concert Orchestra and Singers, with whom he made his BBC Proms debut in 2014, conducting the world premiere of the Pet Shop Boys’ A Man from the Future (about the British scientist Alan Turing), Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra and Chorus (including a recording of orchestral and choral works by the British composer Stephen McNeff), Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Geidai Philharmonic, Tokyo, Orchestra of Opera North, City of London Sinfonia, English Chamber Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Northern Sinfonia, Sinfonia Viva, Bach Choir and Leeds Festival Chorus.
In dance, he has conducted for the Royal Ballet, Sadlers Wells, including the world premiere and recording of the Pet Shop Boys’ The Most Incredible Thing, and the Ballet de l’Opera National de Bordeaux.
A decision in 2001 to orientate his career more around his then young family brought about a move into conservatoire education, which has gradually become a huge passion and now accounts for around 8-9 months of Dominic’s year. Having worked as a guest conductor (in opera, choral and symphonic repertoire), vocal coach, orchestral trainer and conducting teacher for all the major London conservatoires, this enthusiasm culminated in his appointment as Head of Opera Studies at the world famous Guildhall School of Music & Drama in 2012. Internationally, Dominic has also conducted the European Union Youth Orchestra and the orchestras of Geidai Arts University, Tokyo and conducted opera for the Opera Studio of the New National Theatre, Tokyo, the Liszt Academy, Budapest and the Banff Centre in Canada. He has twice led semi-staged opera collaborations between the London Schools Symphony Orchestra and the Guildhall School at the Barbican Centre.
A passionate advocate of new music, Dominic has collaborated regularly with and led premieres by composers such as Judith Weir, Jonathan Dove, Stephen McNeff, Stuart Macrae, Nitin Sawnhey and Jonathan Harvey, and recently commissioned an opera specially for the Guildhall School from the School’s Head of Composition, Dr Julian Philips, which was premiered in March 2017. He is also a driving force in the foundation and development of Opera Makers, a collaboration between the Guildhall School and ROH which trains composers and librettists, who over the course of an academic year, create chamber operas specially for the singers on the Opera Course at the Guildhall School, culminating in performances at the Guildhall School, ROH and a different venues across Europe. His overriding ambition for the future is to create a centre where artists from all over the world and all different disciplines can meet to work together and build cultural understanding.