Spotlight is the Music Network's regular podcast shining the spotlight on people involved in music in their working life.
Dominic Wheeler is Head of Opera Studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (GSMD) in London. A pianist and organ scholar at Cambridge, Dominic then trained as a repetiteur and opera conductor at the Royal College of Music, Royal Academy of Music and Liszt Academy, Budapest. He has a wealth of experience conducting at both conservatoires and with major opera companies and orchestras all over the world, including ENO, Opera North, Opera New Zealand, English Touring Opera and Scottish Opera.
In this fascinating podcast recorded in March 2023 in Dominic's Guildhall office, Music Network co-ordinator Tom Chevis discusses with Dominic a whole host of topics including his role at Guildhall, good musical working practices, the culture of music colleges, the challenges for the Christian (such as idolatry, and the opinions of others) of this environment, the parable of the talents, Jake Heggie's opera Dead Man Walking, and the need for the arts.
Indeed, Dominic mentions a video from a Zoom meeting the GSMD opera school had with Jake Heggie and Sister Helen Prejean, the writer of the book Dead Man Walking, in which they talk about the need for the arts - this video can be found here.
