Thomas Bloch

Thomas Bloch and his glass harmonica (2007)

Thomas Bloch (born 1962 in Colmar, France) is a prominent classical musician specializing in the rare instruments ondes Martenot, glass harmonica, and Cristal Baschet.

Receiving a a First Prize for ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (with Jeanne Loriod) and a Masters Degree in Musicology at the University of Strasbourg, Bloch has performed over 2500 times and appeared on over eighty recordings. Notable collaborations (concerts or recordings) include Radiohead, John Cage, Damon Albarn / Gorillaz, and Tom Waits / Marianne Faithfull / Bob Wilson.

Thomas Bloch currently lives in Paris, France. He is acknowledged as an expert in the rare instruments he plays, the glass harmonica, the ondes Martenot and the Cristal Baschet. He has so far given over 2500 performances in 40 countries and taken part in more than 80 recordings all over the world. His performances range from classical and contemporary music to songs, jazz, rock, theatre music, film music, world music and ballet music, sometimes as the interpreter, at other times as the composer. As a soloist of his rare instruments, he plays as well the complete classical and modern repertoire (Messiaen, Varese, Honegger, Bussotti, Mozart, Donizetti, Hasse, C.P.E. Bach, Beethoven, Richard Strauss,...) but also 10 to 15 premieres from contemporary music each year (Michel Redolfi, Regis Campo, Etienne Rolin, Bernard Wisson, Jan Erik Mikalsen...) and popular music composers (Jonny Greenwood, Damon Albarn...) and performs in many recording sessions.

Thomas Bloch has appeared in well known movies, with musicians of the greatest distinction, in major musical centres, and is a member of various ensembles. Among many others appearances and performances : Milos Forman Amadeus movie (long version 2001), Vampires, the return, The March of Penguins in his original version (music by Emilie Simon), soloist in Milano Scala (where he has given the first performance of the original version with glass harmonica of The Mad Scene from Lucia di Lammermoor (Donizetti) during a recital, soloist in Amsterdam Concertgebouw, soloist with the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra for its centenary (in playing the ondes Martenot, TV shows with English rock band Radiohead, on tour with Tom Waits, Bob Wilson and Marianne Faithfull in The Black Rider (2004 - 2006)), on tour with Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett (Gorillaz) in Monkey: Journey to the West (2007 - ...), with John Cage, Paul Sacher, Marcel Landowski, Michel Plasson, Myung-Whun Chung, Manfred Honeck, Arturo Tamayo, Dennis Russel-Davies, Jean Fournet, Antoni Wit, Fernand Quattrocchi, Marc Grauwels, Philippe Bernold, Patrick Gallois, Pierre-Yves Artaud, Ramson Wilson, Adrian Spence, Philippe Berrod, Maurice Bourgue, Ingo Goritzki, Alexei Ogrintchouk, Marcel Ponseele, Jan de Winne, Roger Muraro, François Weigel, Jay Gottlieb, Gil Sharon, Vladimir Mendelssohn, Jean Sulem, Jacques Dupriez, Paul Coletti, François Salque, Mark Drobinski, Marc Marder, Kent Carter, Jean-Francois Zygel,Bernard Wisson, Patrick Husson, Jörg Waschinski, Fabrice di Falco, Manu Dibango, Fred Frith, Sally Potter, Lindsay Cooper, Philippe Sarde, David Coulter, Michel Redolfi, Etienne Rolin, Isabelle Huppert, Lara Fabian, Vanessa Paradis, Arthur H, Zazie, Thomas Fersen, Sanseverino, concerts in Paris, New York, Tokyo, London, Brussels, Budapest, Praga, Geneva, Mexico City, Bogotá, Madrid, Bonn, Lisbon, Riga, Berlin, Helsinki, Tel Aviv, Stockholm, Boston, Sydney, London, San Francisco, Philadelphia, Montreal, Los Angeles, Kuhmo chamber music Festival, Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, Luzern Festival...

Thomas Bloch and cristal Baschet (1992)

He teaches ondes Martenot at the Strasbourg Conservatoire since 1992, is responsible for presentations of instruments at the Paris Musée de la Musique and is a musical director for music publishers, for the Evian Music Festival (France) and for the Glass Music International Festival 2005 in Paris Cité de la Musique (France).

Thomas Bloch was the recipient of some fifteen Conservatoire awards, at Colmar, Strasbourg, including a First Prize for ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (with Jeanne Loriod). He obtained a Master’s Degree in Musicology at the University of Strasbourg where he was, among others, studied with Marc Honegger, was awarded by critics in several music magazines and also in international composition competitions. Among others, he won : the Classical Music Award 200 given by European critics in Cannes Midem, Victoires de la Musique and Prix de l'Académie Charles Cros, four times best soundtrack during the World subaquatic Movies Festival in Antibes, The Choice of Gramophon, Best of the Year 2001 in Audiophile, Choc in Le Monde de la Musique for his interpretation of the Turangalîla-Symphonie by Messiaen...

He has recorded for Columbia, EMI, Erato, Deutsche Grammophon, Harmonia Mundi, Philips, RCA, Sony Classical, Toshiba... Since 1998, he records for Naxos : Music for Glass Harmonica (8.555295), Music for Ondes Martenot (8.555779), Olivier Messiaen's Turangalîla-Symphonie (8.554478-79), Classical Chill (8.520101), Classical Heat (8.520102), Mozart : Life and Works (8.558061-64), Ecuatorial by Edgard Varese, Missa Cantate by Thomas Bloch...

File:BlochOndesMartenot.jpg

Thomas Bloch and Ondes Martenot (painting by Rémi Bloch, 2004)

Videos

• A large choice of ondes Martenot, glass harmonica and cristal Baschet videos on Youtube played by Thomas Bloch

External links

• Thomas Bloch's website - history, videos and pictures of glass harmonica, ondes Martenot, cristal Baschet, biography, discography, contact...