The viola player Tobias Lea was born in Adelaide in Australia, and began violin lessons at the age of five. From 1987 to 1990 he studied with Siegfried Führlinger at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna.
Tobias Lea began his professional career in Europe in the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra, where he was principal viola under Claudio Abbado in 1989. From 1990 to 1994 he had the same role in the Orchestra del Teatro alla Scala and the Orchestra Filarmonica del Teatro alla Scala under Riccardo Muti. For four years he was also a member of the Quartetto d’Archi della Scala. Since September 1994 Tobias Lea has been principal viola in the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera, and since 1998 he has been a member of the Vienna Philharmonic.
His solo career took him in 2005 and 2006 to Japan and the USA, where he performed Mozart’s Sinfonia concertante K. 364 with Rainer Honeck and the Vienna Philharmonic under the musical direction of Riccardo Muti. He gave the same concert in the Great Hall of Vienna’s Musikverein, where he also performed Bartók’s Viola Concerto in 2008, again with the Vienna Philharmonic under Riccardo Muti.
Tobias Lea is keen to pass on his knowledge to younger musicians, and consequently has taken on numerous teaching positions. Since 1996 he has worked regularly as a tutor for the Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra and the Wiener Jeunesse Orchestra. He gives masterclasses regularly in his native Australia and in Japan. Since 2007 he has also given masterclasses for the Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy of the Vienna Philharmonic and the Opera Camps at the Salzburg Festival.
