Gillian Thoday

Professor of Cello

LRAM, Konzertexamen Nordwestdeutche Musikakademy

Email: [email protected]

Gillian Thoday is a Tutor in Cello at the RNCM. Her experience as a cellist encompasses solo, chamber, ensemble, orchestral and session playing. Her studies at the Royal Academy of Music were followed by four years in Germany with the renowned vituoso and pedagogue Andre Navarra. She has given solo recitals at most of the major London venues, has toured throughout the country, and given broadcasts for television and radio. In the contemporary field she has worked extensively with groups such as the Lontano and Redcliffe ensembles, has commissioned new works for début performances at Wigmore Hall and has given a live broadcast of Jonathan Harvey’s Curve with Plateaux as part of his 50th birthday celebration concert. Chamber music discs include the Mendelsohn octet, and oboe quartets by Rawsthorne and Lutyens.

She has worked with many of the major London orchestras and as Guest Principal with the Bournemouth Sinfonietta, London Concert Orchestra, Radio Orchestra of Dublin, Trondheim Symphony Orchestra and Brussels Opera House.

A teacher of many years experience, her approach to bow technique and sound production has been strongly influenced by her studies with Navarra. Many of her students have won awards and scholarships and have gone on to success in the playing profession. In addition to her post at the RNCM she also teaches at Chetham’s School of Music and Junior Guildhall in London.