Toby Hoffman

Toby Hoffman

In a distinguished career spanning three decades, conductor and violist Toby Hoffman has appeared at many of the world's most prestigious international music festivals including the Salzburg, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Stavanger, Marlboro, La Jolla, Saratoga, and Hong Kong. He has been presented by Carnegie Hall, The Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, London South Bank, Suntory Hall, Lincoln Center, and La Scala. As a guest conductor and soloist, he has performed with many orchestras worldwide including the Philadelphia Orchestra, National Orchestra of Belgium, National Symphony Orchestra of Taiwan, Orchestre Royal de Chambre de Wallonie, Het Gelders Orchestra, Johannesburg Philharmonic, I Cameristi del Maggio Musicale Fiorentino, I Pomeriggi Musicali di Milano, Teatro di Genova, Orquesta Filharmónica de Cali, Orquesta Sinfónica Nacional de Costa Rica, Buffalo Philharmonic, Florida Orchestra and the Prague Chamber Orchestra. Mr. Hoffman has collaborated in many tours and projects with Maurizio Pollini and Salvatore Accardo. Together with Salvatore Accardo, he has recorded all of the violin/viola works of Mozart including the Sinfonia Concertante, the Duos for Violin and Viola, the Divertimento for String Trio and the Six Viola Quintets, in addition to many other chamber works by Beethoven, Schubert, Tchaikovsky, Mendelssohn, Verdi, Dvorak and Chausson. Mr. Hoffman's extensive discography also includes an album of French chamber music with Andre Previn, as well as several recordings with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Marlboro Music Festival. Mr Hoffman has been a guest violist with the Emerson, Jerusalem, Ysaye, Fine Arts, and Tokyo String Quartets. In 1988 at the Kuhmon Festival in Finland, he gave the world premiere of the Piano Quartet by Alfred Schnittke. For ten years, Mr. Hoffman was an artistic director of Bargemusic, helping it to become one of the most popular concert venues in New York City. As an educator, Mr. Hoffman has held the position of Artist in Residence at Harvard University and has been a member of the faculties of Carnegie-Mellon University and the Steans Institute at the Ravinia Festival. Mr. Hoffman was a Professor of Chamber Music and Orchestral Studies at the Universidade do Minho in Portugal. He has given master-classes at the New England Conservatory, Manhattan School of Music, Cincinnati College-Conservatory, TNUA University in Taiwan, Citta di Castello, Livorno, Kuhmo, Turku, the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam and the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Belgium. Born into a musical family, Toby Hoffman began his musical training at the age of six studying the violin with his mother, Esther Glazer. He continued his studies as a violist with Paul Doktor, graduating from the Juilliard School with both Bachelor and Master Degrees. He later studied conducting in Finland with Jorma Panula, where he became a conducting teacher for both the college and pre-college divisions at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki. Mr. Hoffman currently resides in Portugal, where he has been the Principal Conductor of the Orquestra Theatro and the Orquestra de Câmara do Minho.