Concertmaster / Orchestra Leadership Director
Jeff Thayer is concertmaster of the San Diego Symphony. His previous positions include assistant concertmaster at the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, associate concertmaster of the North Carolina Symphony, and concertmaster of the Canton (Ohio) Symphony Orchestra.
Mr. Thayer has appeared as a soloist with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, Jupiter Symphony, Pierre Monteux Festival Orchestra, North Carolina Symphony, Canton Symphony Orchestra, Spartanburg Philharmonic, Williamsport Symphony Orchestra, Nittany Valley Symphony Orchestra, and the Conservatory Orchestra of Cordoba, among others. He has also performed at such festivals as Mainly Mozart (San Diego) and Festival der Zukunft and Tibor Varga Festival, both in Switzerland. His awards include the Starling Foundation Award, the George Eastman Scholarship, and the performer's certificate from the Eastman School of Music. Mr. Thayer also is a laureate of the Wieniawski Violin Competition (2001) and has won various competitions, including the Tuesday Musical Club Scholarship Auditions in Akron, Ohio, in 2000, the Cleveland Institute of Music Concerto Competition in 1999, the Fort Collins Symphony Young Artist Competition in 1999, and the American String Teachers Association Competition in Pennsylvania and Delaware in 1997.
Mr. Thayer is a graduate of the Cleveland Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, and the Juilliard School's pre-college 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), Aspen Music Festival and School, New York String Orchestra Seminar, the Quartet Program, and as the 1992 Pennsylvania Governor Scholar, Interlochen Arts Camp.
Mr. Thayer is an alumnus of the Music Academy (1995-96, 1998), and received the Academy's Stephen Hahn/Lillybelle Foundation Award. This is his ninth season as guest artist and concertmaster of the Academy Festival Orchestra.