Toby Cook

Toby Cook regularly performs in venues across Europe, most recently including at the ‘Rome Chamber Music’, ‘Gstaad Menuhin’ und ‘Miesbach Chamber Music’ Festivals. He is the winner of the Małopolska competition, the Barbirolli Prize at the Lionel Tertis International Viola Competition and the Len Lickorish Memorial Prize at the Royal Overseas League International Strings Competition, and former recipient of the ‘DMR Stipendienprogramms 2022 im Rahmen von NEUSTART KULTUR’, ‘Deutschen Stiftung Musikleben’, ‘Ottilie-Selbach-Redslob’ and ‘Yehudi Menuhins Live Music Now Berlin e.V.’ scholarships. Recently graduated from the class of Tabea Zimmermann at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler Berlin, Toby formerly studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Juan-Miguel Hernandez and Garfield Jackson, and has received masterclasses from numerous artists including Lawrence Power, Ettore Causa and Nobuko Imai. He attended the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove in 2019 and 2022, and in recent years has collaborated with composers Garth Knox, Vasilis Alevizos and Thomas Jones on their new works. An avid chamber musician, Toby plays in a number of ensembles and has twice performed with musicians from the Berlin Philharmonic and clarinettist Matthew Hunt at HellensMusic festival, with Claudio Martínez Mehner and Christoph Poppen in Santander, with Tabea Zimmermann at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg and with members of the ARC ensemble at the Music of Exile Festival in Toronto, Canada. As an orchestral musician, Toby has played under numerous acclaimed conductors such as Manfred Honeck, Gianandrea Noseda and Sir Colin Davis and was a member of the European Union Youth Orchestra 2018, appearing on numerous radio and television broadcasts. In late 2022, he performed Mahler’s 9th symphony at the Konzerthaus Berlin as principal viola with the Eisler Sinfonietta. Toby is passionate about teaching and is a member of the European String Teachers’ Association, with whom he performed at conferences at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, and in Valletta, Europe’s cultural capital in 2018.