Stephen Whibley

Stephen Whibley is a percussionist and composer from Manchester, England. Now based in London, he holds the position of Principal Percussion (No. 2) in the BBC Concert Orchestra. Since joining the orchestra in January 2008, Stephen has enjoyed working with many great artists such as Smokey Robinson, Kylie Minogue, Dame Shirley Bassey, Robin Gibb from the BeeGees, Abba, Barry Manilow, Andrea Bocelli, Westlife, and award-winning British film & television composers George Fenton and Anne Dudley.

His work with the BBC Concert Orchestra has included numerous solo appearances on television and radio, and he is also heavily involved with the orchestra's education programme leading samba bands, junk percussion groups, and most recently coaching at a festival of Indian raga music with Bollywood stars Kavita Krishnamurthy and Kuljit Bhamra.

Before joining the BBC Concert Orchestra, Stephen was based in the north-west of England from where his orchestral playing with the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and Northern Sinfonia and his ensemble and solo playing with renowned musicians such as BackBeat Percussion Quartet, Evelyn Glennie, Ney Rosauro, and Eric Sammut took him around the world. He also performs with his "hot & cheesy" duo which he formed with his double bass-playing brother Daniel… called Fondue!

As a composer, Stephen's compositions became recognized when he formed the percussion quartet 4-MALITY in 1999 with three fellow students from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester. In 2001, 4-MALITY performed at the BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall receiving critical acclaim for Stephen's piece for quartet Monsoon.

Stephen has been commissioned to write for some well-known groups including the Apollo Saxophone Quartet, BackBeat Percussion Quartet, and most recently Birmingham-based percussion duo Maraca2, who have just returned from a successful American tour featuring two of his latest pieces, Blue Motion (for percussion duet) and Espiritu Libre (for percussion duet accompanied by 8 percussionists).