Toby Thatcher

Toby C Thatcher (born 28 January 1989) is an Australian-British conductor, and former orchestral oboist and cor anglais player. As from April 2015, he is Assistant Conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. In February that year, Thatcher won third prize at the Georg Solti International Conducting Competition (see Georg Solti) for conducting Strauss's Don Juan and Dvořák's Carnival Overture in front of the HR-Sinfonieorchester and Frankfurter Opern- und Museumsorchester. In August 2015, Thatcher was joint winner of the inaugural Neeme Järvi Prize at the Menuhin Festival. Thatcher has worked with various international ensembles, including the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra, Sinfonieorchester Basel and Ensemble Modern.

Thatcher is the Founder and Artistic Director of London-based Ensemble Eroica , a group helping young musicians "fulfil the increasingly demanding roles of the 21st century musician".

Thatcher holds several awards in his birth country, including the Brian Stacey Award for Young Australian Conductors , and the 2016 Award for Outstanding Achievement from the University of Sydney.

In 2014, Thatcher graduated from the Royal Academy of Music with an MA, where he studied as an oboist. During his studies, Thatcher played with orchestras such as the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the London Sinfonietta and the Australian Youth Orchestra.