Now in his sixth season as Music Director of the Seven Hills Sinfonietta in Cincinnati, OH, Maestro Wheatley has established a reputation as a builder of orchestras. During his tenure with this ensemble the orchestra has nearly doubled in size, relocated to an expansive new concert venue, formed significant new relationships with grant-giving organizations, and has greatly expanded its orchestral library. With each season, he has led this orchestra to perform ever more substantial and challenging works of the orchestral repertoire. Recently, the orchestra was featured in a film for the Sundance Channel.
In 2010, he was named the new Associate Conductor of the Southern Illinois Symphony Orchestra at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, Illinois. A scholar in Russian music performance practice, his ballet debut of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker in December set a new record for attendance (a completely sold out performance in Shryock Auditorium). This year, he followed with SISO premiere performances of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6, Berlioz’ Symphonie Fantastique, and celebrated Gustav Mahler’s double centenary years with a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.
Maestro Wheatley’s conducting teachers have included Christopher Zimmerman, Vassily Sinaisky, Michael Jinbo, and Gerhard Samuel. He is an alumnus of the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati, the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors in Hancock, Maine, and Peter the Great Music Academy, in St. Petersburg, Russia.
Active as a conductor, violinist, and classical music educator, he has collaborated with scores of professional artists, including soprano Barbara Paver, tenor Thomas Baresel, violinist and pedagogue Kurt Sassmannshaus, cellist William Grubb, clarinetist Eric Mandat, percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, and composers Marjan Mozetich, Amy Scuria, and George Crumb.
He has been a guest conductor on three continents, most recently in Russia and the Ukraine. In early 2008, at the invitation of Vassily Sinaisky, he assisted with the BBC Philharmonic in Manchester, UK. Upcoming engagements include conducting debuts with the Chicago Chamber Orchestra and the Southern Illinois Music Festival, and the Chamber Orchestra at Southeast Missouri State University.
Mr. Wheatley has recorded on the Centaur and Claremont record labels.
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