Toby Hession

Toby Hession is a British collaborative pianist, conductor and composer, currently serving as a répétiteur and conductor on the music staff of Scottish Opera. He studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama (Opera School 2019-21) and Clare College, Cambridge (BA and MPhil, 2015-19); he is a proud alumnus of the Georg Solti Accademia, and Chetham’s School of Music. Toby is a highly experienced répétiteur and coach, having worked with several of the UK’s leading opera companies. Opera credits as music staff include: Semele (Glyndebourne Opera); Ainadamar [UK premiere] (Scottish Opera, Welsh National Opera); Carmen, Il Trittico, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Candide, Così fan tutte, Don Giovanni, Falstaff, Mavra, The Miserly Knight, The Gondoliers, Utopia Ltd. (Scottish Opera); Pelleas et Melisande (Byre 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). Toby looks forward to working as Musical Director on Scottish Opera’s flagship Opera Highlights Tour in the autumn of 2023, and as répétiteur on the UK premiere production of Jonathan Dove’s Marx in London! in 2024. Highly in-demand as a composer, Toby has written for, and had works recorded by, ensembles including The King’s Singers (Master of Music, featured on “GOLD”), Voces8 (She Walks in Beauty, featured on “Enchanted Isle”), Scottish Opera, The New World Symphony (Miami, FL), and Ensemble Perspectives (FR). His short scenes Told By An Idiot and In Flagrante, written in collaboration with librettist Emma Jenkins, were performed across Scotland to critical acclaim as part of Scottish Opera's flagship Opera Highlights tours in 2022-23 and 2023-24 respectively.