Principal double bass with the Orchestre National de Lyon since 2012, VLADIMIR TOMA studied music in his native Romania, studying piano at the Alba Iulia Music High School with Rita Vranceanu (1993-2001), then double bass at the Ion-Vidu National College of Art in Timişoara with Marian Utanu (2001-2005) and at the National University of Music in Bucharest with Ioan Cheptea (2005-2009). He studied with Dorin Marc at the Hochschule für Musik in Nuremberg (2009-2012) and in double bass masterclasses with Yasunori Kawahara and chamber music masterclasses with Daniel Gaede, Julius Berger, the Kölner Klaviertrio and the Voces Quartet. In 2011, he was a semi-finalist at the Markneukirchen International Competition.
Before joining the ONL, he collaborated with various Romanian orchestras (Timişoara National Opera, Bucharest Radio Orchestra, George-Enescu Philharmonic Orchestra of Bucharest, Romanian Youth Orchestra) and with the Württemberg Chamber Orchestra in Heilbronn, Germany (2005-2012). He was an academic trainee with the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra in 2010-2011. Since 2012, he has played with a number of orchestras, including the Orchestre des Pays de Savoie, the Orchestre National d’Île-de-France – ONDIF and the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande. In September 2021, Vladimir was one of the founders of the double bass quartet Accrobasses, together with his fellow double bassists from the Orchestre National de Lyon. He continues to play numerous concerts as a soloist in France and Romania.
