Raised in New York City, Amy Elizabeth Wheeler graduated from the Fiorello LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and received her bachelor degree in voice from the Manhattan School of Music. Her career began with the MGM film "Fame", followed by a European tour of the Broadway musical “Hair” performing the role of Crissy. She made her operatic debut in 1990 with the Warsaw Chamber Opera as Fauno in Mozart’s Ascanio in Alba, and toured with the company throughout Europe performing Mozart roles such as Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro), Blondchen (Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail), and Ismene (Mitridate re di Ponto). She was also featured as Cupid in the WCO’s premier of John Blow’s Venus and Adonis, where she began her collaboration with lutenist Jaroslaw Lipski performing concerts in Poland’s early music festivals as well as recording their critically acclaimed CD titled What Thing Is Love. During her engagement with the WCO, Ms. Wheeler performed regularly with orchestras at international festivals such as the Madrid Mozart Festival, the 49th International Chopin Festival, Le Festival d’Europe du Nord, as well as appearing as Damon in Handel’s Acis & Galetea broadcast live for Polish National Television.
In 1998, Ms. Wheeler established the Peregrine Consort comprised of artists from the Drottningholm Court Theater, Warsaw Chamber Opera, Stockholm Baroque Ensemble, Concerto Copenhagen and the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. The ensemble debuted with a performance of Alessandro Scarlatti's Stabat Mater at Poland's National Philharmonic and went on to perform at the International Wratisalvia Cantans Festival, the Bach 2000 Celebration at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, and the prestigious 100th anniversary season at Poland's National Philharmonic. Highlights from concert programs arranged by Ms.Wheeler include Baldessare Galuppi’s motet Confitebor tibi, Domine, Songs & Duets from the English renaissance, as well as semi-staged versions of G.F. Handel's Amarilli Vezzosa and Alessandro Scarlatti’s serenata A battaglia pensieri. In Gothenburg, Sweden, Ms. Wheeler has performed as a guest artist with the Bohus Operan and has been presented by the Gothenburg Konserthus, the Bohus Opera Summer Festival, and the Backa Theater in collaboration with members of the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra in performances of The Ugly Duckling, scored by Jon Deak for soprano, double bass and string quartet . The production was also presented by American Opera Projects in New York City and broadcast on WNYC radio.
Ms. Wheeler collaborates regularly with Swedish contemporary composer Jan Alm and The Martinson Project, an ensemble which focuses on Scandinavian songs and chamber music and is comprised of musicians from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Principle violinist, Per Enoksson. The ensemble debuted in the Gothenburg Konserthuset's Chamber Music Series performing the premier of Jan Alm’s Martinson Songs set to the poems of Harry Martinson and scored for voice, piano, harp and string quartet. More performances followed, most notably the inaugural concert for the newly renovated chamber hall at Poland's National Philharmonic titled “Scandinaviana”, featuring songs and chamber music by Grieg, Nielsen, Sibelius and Stenhammar presented in collaboration with the Swedish Embassy in Warsaw and sponsored by Volvo, SEBanken and the Swedish Institute.
Ms. Wheeler has recorded and performed with archguitarist Peter Blanchette and the Virtual Consort, presented by the Rural Renaissance Festival and their recordings include: Una Limosa and 800 Years (Archguitar Records).
In 1986, Ms. Wheeler won First Prize in a concerto competition at the 92nd St. Y for young artists living in New York City, and, in 2000 was a recipient of The Fund, a Rockefeller/Kennedy Foundation award for her work as a U.S. artist at international festivals, and, in 2004 she received a Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation award supporting her research on 18th Century Venetian composer Baldessare Galuppi.
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