Ronan Whittern is a conductor and bassoonist specialising in the performance of new music. Originally from Ireland, he now lives and works in Essen, Germany.
Whittern graduated in 2019 from the International Ensemble Modern Academy (IEMA) in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, where he spent a year studying intensely the literature and performance practice of contemporary music under the tutelage of members of the Ensemble Modern. In 2018, he completed his Masters studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland in Glasgow with David Hubbard and Peter Whelan, where he also completed his undergraduate studies. From 2010-12 he studied at Chetham’s School of Music, Manchester, with Anthea Wood and Steve Magee. He is currently studying a Masters in Neue Musik conducting at HMDK Stuttgart with Christof Löser, and studying a Masters in Neue Musik bassoon at the Folkwang University of the Arts under Malter Refardt and Barbara Maurer.
Whittern has performed as a bassoonist at festivals such as steirische herbst, Wien Modern, Musikfest Berlin, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Holland Festival, Gaudeamus Festival, Impuls Festival, and Klangspuren Schwaz. He has performed with the Ensemble Modern, Ensemble Musikfabrik, Boulez Ensemble, Antwerp Symphony Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, and worked under such conductors as Johannes Kalitzke, Stefan Asbury, Ilan Volkov, Vimbayi Kaziboni, Lucas Vis, Elim Chan, and Peter Rundel. He has worked with composers such as Elnaz Seyedi, Catherine Lamb, Sir George Benjamin, Enno Poppe, Stefan Prins, and Heiner Goebbels as well as with many young composers. He is currently a fixed member of the Münster based New Music group ensemble consord.
As a conductor, he works predominantly with living composers, most recently premiering works by Matteo Rigotti and Chongyang Zhang at HMDK Stuttgart’s werk_statt Festival. Earlier in 2025, he worked with German based composer Jiaying He on her new works Wunderland and Hallo World!, premiered in July 2025 in Essen, Germany. He has also worked in opera, collaborating with American composer Riles Walsh and scenographer Yannick Verweij on a new opera The East Complex, culminating in 5 performances across two venues (Opera Ghent, Minardschouwburg Theater) with two separate casts, in Ghent, Belgium. Previous to this, he has conducted Pierrot Lunaire in Glasgow, Scotland. Recent highlights include Tristan Murail’s Ethers with soloist Aaron Wolharn, Luciano Berio’s Chemins II with soloist Margot Le Moine, and premieres of several student works at the Folkwang University of the Arts, Essen as part of the Folkwang Woche für Neue Musik. In 2025, he had his professional debut in Essen as part of the NOW! Festival, conducting Fabien Lévy’s Avant-Demain for six car horns, which was also featured on WDR Lokalzeit.
Ronan Whittern was a member of the Nevis Ensemble, with whom he performed in venues all over Scotland, and performed and recorded the premiere of a new work for solo bassoon by Angela Elizabeth Slater, commissioned by the Nevis Ensemble, which was broadcast on BBC Radio Scotland in 2020.
In addition to his conducting and bassoon work, Ronan Whittern also works with electronic music instruments, and in 2025 released his debut album nonlinear spaces, an album of experimental sounds for bassoon and electronics. He also recently collaborated with Ensemble Modern bassoon player Johannes Schwarz on an improvised performance in Ludwigsburg, based around Luciano Berio’s Sequenza XII for solo bassoon. In 2021, he released an album with Lithuanian jazz trio Quark Effect, titled Lunar Soil.
