Born in Vienna in 1956, Thomas Riebl studied with S.Führlinger, Peter Schidlof and Sandor Vegh.
He won 3rd prize in Munich (ARD) in 1976, and in 1982 won first prize at the International Naumburg Competition, New York.
He has performed with leading orchestras including the Chicago, Berlin and Vienna Symphony, the Bavarian, Vienna and Finish Radio Symphony Orchestras, and with conductors such as Claudio Abbado, Horst Stein, Edo de Waart, Andrew Davies and Sylvain Cambreling.
His chamber music partners have included Jessie Norman, Andras Schiff, Oleg Maisenberg, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Gidon Kremer, Natalia Gutman, Sabine Meyer, and leading string quartets.
He was a member of the Franz Schubert Quartet (1972-1979) and the Vienna String Sextet (1979 - 2004).
Since 1983, Thomas Riebl has been a professor at the University Mozarteum Salzburg. Many of his students have won international competitions, have joined leading string quartets or symphony orchestras and have become professors at music universities.
He has given numerous master classes worldwide, and has recorded for EMI, RCA, pan classics and Hyperion Records.
He is artistic director of the Internationale Sommerakademie Bad Leonfelden, Austria.
In 2011 he developed, together with luthier Bernd Hiller, a five string tenor viola, on which he performes F.Schubert´s Arpeggione Sonata, J.S.Bach´s lute version of his 5th cello suite, his 6th cello suite, Mozart´s clarinet concerto (the original basset clarinet version), as well as recently written pieces for this instrument, including the “Toccata for Thomas” by Garth Knox.