Toby Hession – pianist, conductor and composer
A new website is coming in 2022!
In the meantime, please direct all enquiries to tobyhessionmusic@gmail.com or fill in the enquiry form on the Contact page. Toby would be glad to hear from you, whatever your request!
A bit about Toby . . .
Toby Hession (b. 1997) is a British collaborative pianist, conductor and composer, and currently holds the position of Emerging Artist Répétiteur and Conductor at Scottish Opera (www.scottishopera.org.uk). He studied in the Opera School of the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (2019-21) and is a prize-winning graduate of Clare College, Cambridge (BA and MPhil, 2015-19), where he held a Choral Scholarship; he is also an alumnus of the prestigious Georg Solti Accademia. From 2010-15, Toby attended Chetham’s School of Music (Manchester), studying principally piano and composition. Toby is a highly accomplished and multi-faceted musician, experienced in a wide range of genres and styles of music, and establishing a reputation as a versatile performer and composer.
Toby is a highly experienced collaborative pianist and coach, working primarily in the field of opera. Opera credits as a répétiteur include: Falstaff, Così fan tutte, The Gondoliers, Utopia Ltd. (Scottish Opera); Il Segreto di Susanna, Zanetto, Rita, Dido & Aeneas, The Angel Esmeralda (world premiere), Opera Makers 2020 (world premiere), Opera Scenes Autumn 2019 and Spring 2021 (GSMD). Forthcoming engagements include: A Midsummer Night’s Dream (as assistant conductor and chorus master), Don Giovanni, The Miserly Knight, Mavra (Scottish Opera); Hänsel und Gretel (Berlin Opera Academy). As an accompanist, Toby has played in venues including The Barbican, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and St. Giles’ Cathedral (Edinburgh), for artists including Wallis Giunta, Zoe Drummond, Dima Bawab, Isabel Pfefferkorn, Aidan Coburn, and Adam Maxey. He was awarded the Accompanist Prize in the 2019 Clare Song Competition, and in 2017 was part of the winning duo with soprano Olivia Brett. He is an alumnus of the Pembroke Lieder Scheme, and has accompanied masterclasses with Sir Thomas Allen, Thomas Quasthoff (Edinburgh International Festival), Wallis Giunta, Neal Davies, Andrew Staples, Nicholas Mulroy, Yvonne Howard, and Roger Vignoles.
Highly in-demand as a composer, Toby has had works commissioned and/or recorded by The King’s Singers (Master of Music, featured on ‘GOLD’), Voces8 (She Walks in Beauty, featured on ‘Enchanted Isle’), The New World Symphony (Miami, FL), and Ensemble Perspectives (FR). His music has been heard in major venues across the globe, and broadcast by ClassicFM, BBC Radio3, and various other European media channels. Toby’s music is published by Edition Peters (www.editionpeters.com).