Robert W. Email & Phone Number

American conductor Robert Whalen is increasingly recognized for his deeply moving performances of the full spectrum of orchestral, operatic, and contemporary music.Whalen is concurrently the Director of the Chamber Orchestra at the University of Chicago and the Music Director of the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company of Chicago. Robert is also Music Director of Chicago-based new music ensemble Les espaces acoustiques.Whalen has participated in masterclasses with many leading orchestras and opera companies from across the country, including Syracuse Opera, the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra and the Bard College Conservatory Orchestra. In 2011, Robert received a grant to study six of Europe’s leading orchestras and choirs, including the Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Singers, the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, and the Orchestre National de France. Robert has also participated in major festivals and halls across the country, including the Mostly Mozart Festival, the Bard Music Festival, and numerous productions in Minnesota’s Ted Mann Concert Hall.Whalen is a passionate advocate for contemporary composers. He has worked with many leading contemporary composers and performers. With the Contemporary Music Workshop, Whalen has led numerous regional and world premieres, and has conducted numerous contemporary masterworks. As an undergraduate at Cornell University, Whalen founded CAgE, the Cornell Avant-garde Ensemble, an award-winning ensemble that premiered contemporary operas, ballets, and ensemble compositions by Cornell’s student composers.Robert has received several awards and scholarships, including a Watson Scholarship from the IBM Corporation and a Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Minnesota. Robert was the recipient of the 2011 Graduate Research Partnership Program from the University of Minnesota.

Listed skills include Music, Orchestral Music, Concerts, Contemporary Music, and 11 others.