Born in Ripon, North Yorkshire, Toby enjoys a busy and varied career as both soloist, chamber and orchestral musician. Toby completed his studies at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in the class of Louise Hopkins, graduating in 2019 from the Artist Diploma program. 

In 2019 Toby was selected for the Tillett Young Artists Platform and made his Wigmore hall debut in October of that year. He continues to perform regularly as a soloist and recitalist with duo partner, pianist Ryan Drucker throughout the UK, playing for concert societies and festivals around the country. As a soloist Toby has appeared throughout the UK with multiple orchestras including the St Cecilia and European Union Chamber orchestras, performing concertos ranging from Haydn to Shostakovich. 

As well as being a sought after soloist Toby is a passionate chamber musician and was a member of the award winning Jubilee String Quartet from 2017-2023. With the quartet he has performed in many leading concert halls in the UK and Europe, made recordings for the Rubicon Classics label and appeared several times on BBC Radio 3.

Toby also enjoys a busy orchestral schedule and has recently been appointed as Sub-principal cello of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra, regularly plays principal cello for the Fantasia Orchestra and makes regular guest principal appearances with other orchestras including EUCO.

Aside from performing Toby has a passion for teaching having delivered many masterclasses and workshops both individually and alongside the Jubilee quartet. In September 2022 Toby joined the music faculty at the prestigious Uppingham School and as of 2023 also took up the cello teaching position at Oakham School.  

Toby plays on a modern cello made by Paul Collins c.2013.

Emma Denton studied at the Royal Academy of Music where she received many of the top awards including the Louise Child Prize for the highest overall degree, the David Martin/Florence Hooten Concerto prize and the Max Pirani and Harry Isaacs chamber music prizes. She was the winner of the Muriel Taylor Scholarship and was selected to perform alongside Rostropovitch at the 10th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.  Emma has performed concerti with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Nagoya Philharmonic, Britten Sinfonia, London Soloists and recently recorded ‘The Sacred Veil’ for Decca with VOCES8 and the Grammy-winning composer Eric Whitacre. Emma has performed for more than 20 years as the cellist of the acclaimed Carducci Quartet. They have appeared at major concert halls around the world and their Naxos recordings of Philip Glass Quartets have had over fifteen million plays on Spotify. Emma plays on a Ruggieri cello c. 1685. 

Jane Salmon is Principal Cello of the Oxford Philharmonic. Especially well known as a chamber musician, her work has taken her to more than 45 countries. She has appeared in more than 60 CD recordings, numerous broadcasts, first performances, festivals, and concerts in many major venues.  Jane was cellist of the Schubert Ensemble, winner of the Royal Philharmonic prize for chamber music and a leading exponent of music for piano and strings for 35 years. 2018 saw the group’s celebratory final season with over 50 performances, many of which are now available on the Schubert Ensemble’s YouTube channel. A founder member of Endymion, which has performed several times at the BBC Proms, Jane has played guest principal with the Scottish and English Chamber Orchestras and London Sinfonietta, and played with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields and Chamber Orchestra of Europe. She is a tutor in cello and chamber music at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire and regularly returns to teach on a course in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Martin Thomas is Principal Cello of Oxford Philharmonic. He studied at the Royal Academy in London where he became a founding member of the Coull Quartet. After 11 years playing with the quartet he left to pursue a freelance career performing with orchestras in London. Martin now enjoys a busy life playing with orchestras, teaching and performing chamber music. He is currently a member of the Archaus Quartet.

John Heley studied cello with William Pleeth at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Upon completion of his studies he was appointed sub-principal cello of the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra by Music Director Rudolph Kempe. In 1978, John took up the post of principal cello at the Orchestra of St John’s, a position he still holds. He was associate principal of the Academy of St Martin in the Fields from 1986 until 2014 and has been guest principal at the Royal Opera House, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Royal Northern Sinfonia, amongst others. John has played numerous scores for TV and film including Poirot, Spooks, Silent Witness, Downton Abbey, Harry Potter and James Bond. John appeared as the cellist Leo in Dustin Hoffman’s film, Quartet. John holds the position of Principal Cello of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra.

Cellist, composer and music publisher Mats Lidström holds the position of Solo Cello with the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. He is a teacher at the Royal Academy of Music and guest-professor at the Lund University in Sweden. Born in Stockholm, Mats studied in Gothenburg with Maja Vogl and at the Juilliard School in New York City with Leonard Rose and Channing Robbins. As soloist and chamber musician, Mats has performed in many of the major concert halls, such as the Wigmore and Royal Festival Hall, the Berlin Philharmonie, Vienna Musikverein, Prague Rudolfinum, Lisbon Gulbenkian, Paris Châtelet and New York The Y. 

He has recorded for EMI, Decca, Hyperion, Deutsche Grammophon and for his own company CelloLid. With the OPO, conducted by Vladimir Ashkenazy, Mats features as soloist on the BIS label with his Rigoletto Fantasy and the Concerto No. 1 by Shostakovich. As principal cellist he has guested with orchestras such as the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Mahler Chamber Orchestra and Los Angeles Philharmonic as well as the major orchestras of the UK and Sweden.

During the 2004/05 season, Mats was the artistic director of From Sweden, a festival of some 30 concerts across the major venues of London, which was the greatest undertaking for Swedish music abroad by the Swedish government. In the wake of the publication of his book Heritage, dedicated to the cellist Leo Stern (1862–1904), Mats was named Leo Stern Professor of Cello at the Royal Academy of Music.

Peter Adams gained his first orchestral post at the age of 16 and currently holds the position of Solo Cello of the Oxford Philharmonic Orchestra. His teachers have included Paul Tortelier, Tsuyoshi Tsutsumi, Janos Starker and William Pleeth. At age 21, he was the youngest ever professor at the Royal Academy of Music. In addition to his orchestral work Peter has always been keenly interested in chamber music, having been a founder member of the Rogeri Piano Trio and for 12 years a member of the Bochmann String Quartet. His chamber music collaborators have included amongst others Nigel Kennedy, Robert Cohen, Rafael Walfisch, Jack Brymer, Natalie Clein and Jeremy Menuhin. Sought after as soloist, chamber musician, and principal cellist he has countless broadcasts and recordings to his name.