Jeff Thayer

Jeff Thayer is concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony. His previous positions include assistant concertmaster of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, associate concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony, and concertmaster of the Canton (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra.

As a guest concertmaster, Mr. Thayer has performed with the Pittsburgh, Atlanta, Indianapolis, National Arts Centre, Seattle, Oregon, Tenerife, and Basque National orchestras. He also has appeared as a soloist with the Pierre Monteux Festival Orchestra, Bolivian National Symphony, Orquesta Sinfonica de Mendoza (Argentina), Spartanburg Philharmonic, and the Conservatory Orchestra of Cordoba, among others, and has performed at festivals including Amelia Island, La Jolla Summerfest, Mainly Mozart (San Diego), and Festival der Zukunft and Tibor Varga Festival, both in Switzerland.

Mr. Thayer is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, and the Juilliard School's precollege division, where he studied with William Preucil, Donald Weilerstein, Zvi Zeitlin, and Dorothy DeLay. He began violin lessons with his mother at age 3, and at 14 went to study with Jose Antonio Campos at the Conservatorio Superior (Cordoba, Spain). He attended Keshet Eilon (Israel), Ernen Musikdorf (Switzerland), the Aspen Music Festival and School, New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Quartet Program, and Interlochen.

Mr. Thayer is an alumnus of the Music Academy (1995, 1996, and 1998), and received the Academy's Stephen Hahn/Lillybelle Foundation Award. This is his 11th season as a Music Academy faculty member and concertmaster of the Academy Festival Orchestra.