He studied at Columbia University. He was a student of Martinelli and Cesare Sturani in New York, then of
Giuseppe Pais in Milano. He came to Europe in 1950 and made his debut the same year in
Vichy as Vincent in Mireille.
After further studies in Milano he was hired by the Munich Theater am Gärtnerplatz in 1955. He made his debut there as Duca
in Rigoletto.
In 1956, he took part at the festival in Aix-en-Provence. In 1958, he made a guest appearance as Lenskij in Frankfurt a. M. As a
result, he was immediately hired by the opera house there.
In 1961, he made a guest appearance at the Bayreuth Festival as Froh. At the Salzburg Festival, Thaw sang: 1964–65 in
Ariadne auf Naxos, 1966–68 and 1970–71 as Basilio and 1978–79 as Valzacchi.
He was guest at the Komische Oper Berlin (1960/61), Théâtre de la Monnaie (1963) and Wiener Staatsoper.
In 1963, he sang in London with the troupe of the Frankfurt opera. The same year, he became a member of the Staatsoper in Munich,
while having a guest contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
He was also a guest at the Staatstheater Hannover, and in 1974 took part in the Holland Festival.
He sang Fra Diavolo at the Staatsoper Berlin.
Thaw sang also in musical. He is reported to have sung Higgins in My fair lady 150 times. This number was
probably never checked but just copied. In 1976 at the Staatsoper in Munich, he took part in the world premiere of Die
Versuchung by Josef Tal, and in 1986 in that of Belshazar by V. D. Kirchner.
Thaw made his US opera debut in 1961 as Pong, while his other roles included Lysander in the US stage premiere of Britten's A
midsummer night's dream. In 1966, he made his NYCO debut as the Chevalier in Dialogues des Carmelites. and subsequently
sang the Prince in Love for three oranges and Flamand there.
He was married to Claire Watson (1927–86). He recorded small roles for Decca and Ariola-Eurodisc.
Comprimario roles were his specialty. His repertory included: Valzacchi, Flamand, Scaramuccio, David, Froh, Jaquino and Pedrillo.
Reference: Kutsch & Riemens
