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The Belgian tenor, Thomas Blondelle, studied singing, piano, composition and chamber music at his home town’s Stedelijk Conservatorium. At the KUL University of Leuven, he obtained a 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.
While still studying, Thomas Blondelle made his debut at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (Brussels) in 2003, singing the leading role of Hans Scholl in Die Weiße Rose. He then performed at Grand Théâtre de Luxemburg, De Vlaamse Opera, Les Opéras en plein air Paris (Alfredo in La Traviata, Tamino in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte) as well as the Opéra de Toulon, before leaving for Germany in 2006. At the Staatstheater Braunschweig (where he was an ensemble member from 2006 till 2009) he sang Belmonte in W.A. Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail, Boris in Katja Kabanova, Orlando in Orlando Paladino, Cassio in Otello, Edwin in Die Csardasfürstin, Graf Zedlau in Wiener Blut, Alfredo in La Traviata and Eisenstein in Die Fledermaus. Since 2009, he is a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he sang, amongst many other roles, Tamino in W.A. Mozart's Die Zauberflöte, Loge in Das Rheingold, Narraboth in Salome, Herodes in Salome, Ismaele in Nabucco, Cassio in Otello, Macduff in Macbeth, Prince in L’amour des trois oranges, David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Chevalier in Francis Poulenc's Dialogues des Carmélites, Don Ottavio in W.A. Mozart's Don Giovanni, Bob Boles in Benjamin Britten's Peter Grimes, Male Chorus in B. Britten's The Rape of Lucretia, Zinovij in Lady Macbeth and Pelleas in Pelleas et Mélisande.
Besides his work as an ensemble member in Berlin, Thomas Blondelle is also a regular guest in other opera houses. He created the leading part of Melchior Gabor in Benoît Mernier’s Frühlings Erwachen at Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie (awarded a Diapason d’or), in 2007, a role he later sang at Strasbourg’s Opéra national du Rhin in 2008. In the recent past, he has been invited by the Bayerische Staatsoper in München to sing Froh in Das Rheingold and Tanzmeister in Ariadne auf Naxos, by the Volksoper Wien (Balduin in Wiener Blut), the Schleswig Holstein Festival (Gomatz in W.A. Mozart's Zaide), the Saito Kinen Festival (Tenor solo in Jeanne d’arc au bûcher), De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam (David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg), the Luzern Festival (Froh in Das Rheingold), the BBC Proms (Walther in Tannhäuser, Narraboth in Salome) and the Opéra National du Rhin in Strassburg (Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer and Claudio in Das Liebesverbot). He performed the solo tenor role in Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in New York (Lincoln Center) and at the Philharmonie de Paris, sang Narraboth in Salome at the BBC Proms in London (Royal Albert Hall), Tambourmajor in Alban Berg's Wozzeck with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow and sang the main role of Nikolaus Sprink in Kevin Puts’ Opera Silent Night at Cincinnati Opera. He also guested as Max in Der Freischütz and Erik in Der fliegende Holländer in Stuttgart, Herodes in Salome in Luxemburg, Claudio in Das Liebesverbot in Strasburg, Belmonte in W.A. Mozart's Die Entführungs aus dem Serail at Opera Frankfurt and Staatstheater Wiesbaden, where he also sang Loge in Das Rheingold, Erik in Der fliegende Holländer, Lenski in Eugene Onegin and René in Der Graf von Luxemburg.
In concert performances Thomas Blondelle sang Tenor solo in Lamentationes (Igor Stravinsky) at the Philharmonie Berlin, Sir Hervey in Anna Bolena at KlangVokal Musikfestival Dortmund, Edwin in Die Csardasfürstin with the Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, Rustighello in Lucrezia Borgia at Konzerthaus Dortmund and Philharmonie Cologne and Fernando in Die Räuberbraut at the Philharmonie Cologne. As a soloist he performed with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, RIAS-Kammerchor, Nancy Opera, Sinfonieorchester St. Gallen, Stuttgarter Philharmoniker, WDR Rundfunkorchester, WDR Sinfonieorchester KölnNetherlands Philharmonic Orchestra, Orchestre de Monte Carlo, Orchestre de Paris, Brussels Philharmonic, Vlaams Symfonieorkest and New York Philharmonic Orchestra.
He worked with conductors including Yves Abel, Marco Armiliato, Maurizio Barbacini, Paolo Carignani, Alexander Joel, Michail Jurowski, Jiri Kout, Sigiswald Kuijken, Kent Nagano, Simon Rattle, 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 Franz Liszt and was released in late 2014.
In the 2015-2016 and 2016-2017 seasons, Thomas Blondelle sang Pelleas in Pelleas et Mélisande, Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer and Herodes in Salome at the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, Max in Der Freischütz and Erik in Der fliegende Holländer at the Staatsoper Stuttgart, René in Der Graf von Luxemburg, Loge in Das Rheingold, Belmonte in Die Entführung and Lenski in Onegin at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Don José in Georges Bizet's Carmen at Staatstheater Darmstadt and Claudio in Das Liebesverbot at the Opéra National du Rhin. In the 2017-2018 season, he sang premieres of Die Fledermaus (Eisenstein) and Invisible (Oncle in Etranger) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, made his debut as Matteo in Arabella at the Staatstheater Wiesbaden, guest as Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer at the IMF Festival and appeared in concerts at the Concertgebouw Amsterdam and La Monnaie Brussels.
He also works as a librettist (mainly for children’s opera’s) and composer. |
