Toby Oft
Principal Trombone

Oft
Toby Oft was born and raised in Portland, Oregon and has held numerous positions including Principal Trombone of both the Florida West Coast Symphony and Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra. In addition, he has also performed extensively here in the U.S. and abroad with such ensembles as the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.

The son of music educators, Mr. Oft started playing trombone at the age of 6 and began serious study with such notable teachers as Warren Baker and Peter Ellefson when he was in high school. Though he admits his focus in high school was jazz trombone over classical, when he got to college, Mr. Oft focused on orchestral trombone study earning a Bachelor of Music from Indiana University and a Master of Music from Northwestern University. Throughout his career, Toby Oft has gained tremendous insight for the art of trombone from his studies with Michael Mulcahy, Joseph Alessi, Scott Hartman, and John Swallow.

Mr. Oft was appointed Principal Trombone of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra in June 2006 and thus moved here from Sarasota, Florida with his wife Andrea. He enjoys teaching trombone a great deal in addition to cycling and cooking. Although he leaves many friends in Florida, he is very glad to be back on the west coast


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