He studied at the Columbia University. He was a student of Martinelli and Cesare Sturani in New York, then later 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 in 1955 by the Theater am Gärtnerplatz. He made his debut there as Duca in Rigoletto.
In 1956, he took part at the festival of Aix-en-Provence auf. In 1958, he made a guest appearance as Lenskij in Frankfurt a. M. As a result,
he was immediately hired by the opera house.
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 with the troupe of the Frankfurt opera in London. In 1963, he became a member of the Staatsoper in Munich, while
he had a guest contract with the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
He was also a guest at the Staatstheater Hannover, and in 1974 he 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 Münchner
Staatsoper, he took part in the world premiere of "Die Versuchung" by Josef Tal, in 1986 at the
world premiere 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 of the 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 uand Pedrillo.
Reference; Kutsch & Riemens.
