Vita

Belgian tenor Thomas Blondelle was born in Bruges, Belgium, in October 1982 and studied singing, piano, composition and chamber music at his home town’s Stedelijk Conservatorium. At the KUL University of Leuven, he obtained a master’s degree in musicology in 2006. He was awarded the First Prize at the Axion Classics competition in 2001, the Second Prize at the Prix Jâcques Dôme singing competition in 2002, the Prize for a Young Promising Contestant at the Viñas Competition (Barcelona) in 2005 and the Second Prize at the Concours Reine Elisabeth 2011 in Brussels, as well as the French Repertoire Prize (Palazetto Bru) at the 2012 Belvedere Competition in Vienna.

After his first engagement at the Staatstheater Braunschweig (2006 to 2009) he moved to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as a member of the permanent ensemble until 2022. He has sung, amongst many other lyric roles, Tamino (DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE), Merkur (DIE LIEBE DER DANAE), Chevalier (DIALOGUES DES CARMÉLITES), Cassio (OTELLO), Macduff (MACBETH), Ismaele (NABUCCO), Walther (TANNHÄUSER), Prince (L’AMOUR DES TROIS ORANGES), Bob Boles (PETER GRIMES), Herodes (SALOME), Don Ottavio (DON GIOVANNI), Pelleas (PELLEAS ET MELISANDE), Eisenstein (DIE FLEDERMAUS), Hexe (HANSEL UND GRETEL), Erik (THE FLYING DUTcHMAN), Parsifal (PARSIFAL), Loge (DAS RHEINGOLD) and David (DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG).

Guest engagements have taken Thomas Blondelle to many venues in many roles, including Bayerische Staatsoper, Volksoper Wien, Oper Frankfurt, Hamburgische Staatsoper, Staatstheater Wiesbaden and Braunschweig, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Semperoper Dresden and Staatsoper Stuttgart, Schleswig Holstein Musikfestival, Festival in Aix-en-provence, Saito Kinen Festival Japan and New York Philharmonic, Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam, Théatre Royal de la Monnaie, Opéra National du Rhin Strasbourg and Opéra national de Lorraine, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, BBC Proms, Edinburgh International Festival and Cincinnati Opera.

In concert performances Thomas Blondelle sang Tenor solo/LAMENTATIONES (Strawinsky) at the Philharmonie Berlin, Sir Hervey/ANNA BOLENA at KlangVokal Musikfestival Dortmund, Edwin/DIE CSARDASFÜRSTIN with the Stuttgarter Philharmonikern, Rustighello/LUCREZIA BORGIA at Konzerthaus Dortmund and Philharmonie Cologne and Fernando/DIE RÄUBERBRAUT at the Philharmonie Cologne. As a soloist he performed with the Deutsches Sinfonie-Orchester Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, Nancy Opera, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, WDR Rundfunkorchester, WDR Symphonieorchester Cologne, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, Orchestre de Monte Carlo, Orchestre de Paris, Brussels Philharmonic, Vlaams Symfonieorkest and New York Philharmonic.

He worked with conductors including Yves Abel, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Barbacini, Paolo Carignani, Alexander Joel, Michail Jurowski, Jiri Kout, Sigiswald Kuijken, Kent Nagano, Carlo Rizzi, Donald Runnicles, Ulf Schirmer, Marc Albrecht, José Cura, Michael Schønwandt, Kazuki Yamada, Lothar Zagrosek and Alan Gilbert.

A devoted recitalist, his repertoire includes the main German song cycles, a recital programme called Banalités (recorded for Fuga Libera), and a recital with Italian Art songs by Rossini, Verdi and Tosti. With mixed solo programmes he made his Japan debut in Tokyo in 2011 and in Madrid, at Théâtre du Châtelet Paris in 2012. His second solo album “Dreams and Nightmares” (with pianist Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort) features songs by Schubert, Wolf, Strauss, Wagner and Liszt and was released in late 2014.

He also works as a librettist (mainly for children’s opera’s) and composer.

2023-08-01

Media

Deutsche Oper Berlin | DAS RHEINGOLD

Copland: “I Bought Me a Cat”

Staatstheater Wiesbaden | DIE LUSTIGE WITWE

Berlioz: „Mab, la messagère Fluett et légère“

Staatstheater Wiesbaden | »Beide bleiben sich selbst treu …« – Elissa Huber & Thomas Blondelle über Hanna und Danilo

Verbeek: “Zenobia, de depressieve koe”

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