Founder of the Orion Orchestra, Toby Purser began his musical studies as a chorister and a music scholar at Winchester College and studied piano for a year in Vienna before returning to read music at Oxford. Having begun his conducting studies with George Hurst, he spent two years at the St. Petersburg State Conservatoire studying with Ilya Musin, and then a further three years at the Royal Academy of Music with Colin Metters.
Orchestras he has conducted include the English Chamber Orchestra, the London Concert Orchestra, L’Ensemble Orchestral de Paris, the Orpheus Sinfonia, Oxford University Orchestra, Sinfonia Viva, Kammerphilharmonie Graz, St Petersburg Camerata and the St Petersburg Festival Orchestra. Companies for whom he has conducted include Bampton Classical Opera, Chelsea Opera Group, Grange Park Opera, Iford Arts and Pimlico Opera.
Toby Purser holds an ENO Mackerras Fellowship and has conducted The Marriage of Figaro for the company. This season, he assists Mark Wigglesworth on Lulu and Ryan Wigglesworth on The Winter’s Tale. He will also assist Edward Gardner on Eugene Onegin at the Opéra national de Paris, as well as undertaking concerts with the East Anglia Chamber Orchestra, the London International Orchestra, the Orion Orchestra and for Raymond Gubbay Ltd.