Thomas Blondelle

The tenor Thomas Blondelle, who was born in 1982 in Bruges, Belgium, studied voice, piano, composition, and chamber music at the conservatory of his native city. In 2006 he additionally received a degree in musicology from the University of Leuven. In 2003, Blondelle, who won awards when he was just beginning his career, made his debut as Hans Scholl in Udo Zimmermann’s Die weisse Rose at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, where he later also took part in the world premiere of Benoît Mernier’s Frühlings Erwachen. Since 2009 he has been a member of the Deutsche Oper Berlin ensemble, where he has sung such roles as Tamino in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Macduff in Verdi’s Macbeth, Erik in Wagner’s Dutchman, and the Prince in Prokofiev’s L’Amour des trois Oranges. Blondelle has appeared as Froh in Das Rheingold at the Bavarian Staatsoper, and he made his debut at the Nederlandse Opera Amsterdam in June 2013 as David in Die Meistersinger. Additional credits include at the Vlaamse Opera, the Opéra du Rhin in Strasbourg, the Grand Théâtre de Luxembourg, and the Vienna Volksoper. In 2012 he appeared in Honegger’s Jeanne d’Arc au Bûcher at the Saito Kinen Festival in Japan. Blondelle’s extensive concert repertoire includes not only classics but such rarities as Donizetti’s Requiem and works by César Franck. He is additionally a lieder singer dedicated to the great romantic song cycles as well as such genre-crossing projects as his program Banalités, which he has performed in Belgium, France, and Germany. Along with his singing engagements, Thomas Blondelle composes – his songs have won First Prize at the Aquarius Competition for young composers – and has already been involved in creative projects as director and librettist.

May 2013