Marc Tooten studied at the Brussels Royal Conservatory and went on to pursue further studies at the Sweelinck Conservatory in Amsterdam. During the course of his career, he has been the leader of the viola section of various esteemed orchestras and chamber orchestras such as I Fiamminghi, the Beethoven Academie, the Royal Flemish Philharmonic, the Radio Chamber Philharmonic (Hilversum, the Netherlands), and the Orquestra Ciudad of Granada.
Marc is permanent viola player with HERMESensemble and is part of the artistic board.
He is currently the solo principal violist of the Brabant Philharmonic in Eindhoven, the Netherlands. As an interpreter of chamber music he is highly regarded in international circles; in addition to other ensembles, he is a member of the Salzburg Soloists and the Arriaga Quartet as well as the Taneyev String Trio, which he co-founded.
Such distinguished musicians as Abdel Rahman El Bacha, Eduard Brunner, András Adorján, Martin Lovett, Martha Argerich, Boris Berezovsky and Itamar Golan have been among his numerous chamber music partners.
At the Lemmens Institute (Leuven, Belgium) as professor of viola and chamber music and at the Maastricht Conservatory, he is pleased to impart his musical experience and insights with great enthusiasm to young musicians.
