Toby Hession (born 6 February 1997) is an English composer, conductor, and pianist.

Early life and studies

Hession was born in

Peterborough Peterborough () is a cathedral city in Cambridgeshire, east of England. It is the largest part of the City of Peterborough unitary authority district (which covers a larger area than Peterborough itself). It was part of Northamptonshire until ...

. Between 2010 and 2015 he attended Chetham's School of Music, Manchester, studying piano with Masayuki Tayama, with whom he continues to study, and composition with Gavin Wayte. He read music at

Clare College, Cambridge Clare College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Iris ...

and graduated in 2018, having held a choral scholarship and an instrumental award there.

Compositions

Hession has written works which have been performed in numerous venues (amongst them

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the United ...

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the cit ...

Peterborough Cathedral Peterborough Cathedral, properly the Cathedral Church of St Peter, St Paul and St Andrew – also known as Saint Peter's Cathedral in the United Kingdom – is the seat of the Anglican Bishop of Peterborough, dedicated to Saint Peter, Saint Pa ...

, etc.) by such ensembles as the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, Aurora Orchestra, the

Manchester Camerata The Manchester Camerata is a British chamber orchestra based in Manchester, England. A sub-group from the orchestra, the Manchester Camerata Ensemble, specialises in chamber music performances. The orchestra's primary concert venue is The Bridg ...

, the Commonwealth Festival Orchestra and Inner Voices. Hession's recent works include a commission by

The King's Singers The King's Singers are a British a cappella vocal ensemble founded in 1968. They are named after King's College in Cambridge, England, where the group was formed by six choral scholars. In the United Kingdom, their popularity peaked in the 1 ...

and a set of

canticle A canticle (from the Latin ''canticulum'', a diminutive of ''canticum'', "song") is a hymn, psalm or other Christian song of praise with lyrics usually taken from biblical or holy texts. Canticles are used in Christian liturgy. Catholic Church ...

s premièred by the Choir of Clare College, Cambridge in 2018. His works have been broadcast on Classic FM and Radio 3 and are published by

Edition Peters Edition Peters is a classical music publisher founded in Leipzig, Germany in 1800. History The company came into being on 1 December 1800 when the Viennese composer Franz Anton Hoffmeister (1754–1812) and the local organist Ambrosius Kühne ...

Conductor

Hession has conducted a wide range of ensembles in venues such as West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge,

Bridgewater Hall The Bridgewater Hall is a concert venue in Manchester city centre, England. It cost around £42 million to build in the 1990s, and hosts over 250 performances a year. It is home to the 165-year-old Hallé Orchestra as well as to the Hallé ...

and

Manchester Cathedral Manchester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral and Collegiate Church of St Mary, St Denys and St George, in Manchester, England, is the mother church of the Anglican Diocese of Manchester, seat of the Bishop of Manchester and the c ...

. In January 2018, Hession conducted the UK premiere of

Iván Fischer Iván Fischer (born 20 January 1951) is a Hungarian conductor and composer. Born in Budapest into a musical family of Jewish heritage, Fischer initially studied piano, violin, cello and composition in Budapest. His older brother, Ádám Fisch ...

's ''Eine Deutsch-Jiddische Kantate'' in Clare College Chapel.

Pianist

Hession has given performances across the UK, at venues including West Road Concert Hall, Cambridge, St. Martin in the Fields, St. James's Piccadilly, London, the

Royal Northern College of Music The Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) is a conservatoire located in Manchester, England. It is one of four conservatoires associated with the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music. In addition to being a centre of music educatio ...

and Peterborough Cathedral. He has performed Grieg's

Piano Concerto A piano concerto is a type of concerto, a solo composition in the classical music genre which is composed for a piano player, which is typically accompanied by an orchestra or other large ensemble. Piano concertos are typically virtuoso showp ...

and

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

's Fifth Piano Concerto ('Emperor') with the

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Music Society (CUMS) orchestra and the East Anglia Chamber Orchestra respectively.

References

External links

Official website of Toby Hession

Toby Hession on ''encoremusicians''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hession, Toby 1997 births 21st-century classical musicians 21st-century English musicians English composers English conductors (music) English pianists Living people People from Peterborough 21st-century British conductors (music) 21st-century pianists