Thomas Bloch (born 1962 in Colmar, France) is a classical musician specializing in the rare instruments

ondes Martenot The ondes Martenot ( ; , "Martenot waves") or ondes musicales ("musical waves") is an early electronic musical instrument. It is played with a keyboard or by moving a ring along a wire, creating "wavering" sounds similar to a theremin. A player ...

glass harmonica The glass harmonica, also known as the glass armonica, glass harmonium, bowl organ, hydrocrystalophone, or simply the armonica or harmonica (derived from , ''harmonia'', the Greek word for harmony), is a type of musical instrument that uses a ...

, and Cristal Baschet. Receiving a First Prize for ondes Martenot at the Paris Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique (with Jeanne Loriod) and a

master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Musicology at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (french: Université de Strasbourg, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, Alsace, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. The French university traces its history to the ea ...

, Bloch has performed over 2500 times and appeared on over eighty recordings. Notable collaborations (concerts or recordings) include Radiohead, John Cage, Daft Punk, Damon Albarn / Gorillaz,

Philip Clemo Philip Clemo is a British composer, musician, producer, sound artist, filmmaker and visual artist, described by Propermusic.com as one of contemporary music's most innovative artists. Early life Philip James Clemo was born on 3 August 1964 in In ...

Marianne Faithfull Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull (born 29 December 1946) is an English singer and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single " As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British I ...

Tom Waits Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter, and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during ...

and Bob Wilson

Biography

Bloch obtained a master's degree in Musicology at the University of Strasbourg where he studied with

Marc Honegger Marc Honegger (17 May 1926 – 8 September 2003) was a French musicologist and choirmaster. Biography A distant cousin of the Swiss-born composer Arthur Honegger, he studied at the Sorbonne, where he was a pupil of Paul-Marie Masson. He receive ...

. He currently lives in Paris, France. He is acknowledged as an expert in the following rare instruments: the glass harmonica, the ondes Martenot and the Cristal Baschet. He has given thousands of performances in forty countries and taken part in more than eighty recordings all over the world. He performs in genres that span classical, contemporary, jazz, rock, ballet, world music, theatre and film score/soundtrack. As a soloist of rare instruments, he plays the complete classical and modern repertoire (including

Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonicall ...

, Varèse, and Richard Strauss) and also ten to fifteen premieres from contemporary music each year (

Michel Redolfi Michel may refer to: * Michel (name), a given name or surname of French origin (and list of people with the name) * Míchel (nickname), a nickname (a list of people with the nickname, mainly Spanish footballers) * Míchel (footballer, born 1963), ...

Regis Campo Regis or Régis may refer to: People * Regis (given name), a given name (including a list of people with the name) * Regis (surname), a surname (including a list of people with the name) * Regis (musician), full name Karl O'Connor, an Englis ...

Étienne Rolin Étienne, a French analog of Stephen or Steven, is a masculine given name. An archaic variant of the name, prevalent up to the mid-17th century, is Estienne. Étienne, Etienne, Ettiene or Ettienne may refer to: People Scientists and inventors ...

, and others) and popular music composers ( Jonny Greenwood, Damon Albarn). He also performs in many recording sessions. Bloch has taught 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

Évian Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

Music Festival (France) and for the Glass Music International Festival 2005 in Paris

Cité de la Musique The Cité de la Musique ("City of Music"), also known as Philharmonie 2, is a group of institutions dedicated to music and situated in the Parc de la Villette, 19th arrondissement of Paris, France. It was designed with the nearby Conservatoire d ...

(France).

Performances and appearances

Bloch has performed for numerous movies and is a member of various ensembles. Among his many appearances and performances are the following: ''

Amadeus Amadeus may refer to: *Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791), prolific and influential composer of classical music *Amadeus (name), a given name and people with the name * ''Amadeus'' (play), 1979 stage play by Peter Shaffer * ''Amadeus'' (film), ...

'' (for the 2001 DVD edition), soloist in Milan La Scala (where he gave the first performance of the original version with glass harmonica of ''The Mad Scene'' from Donizetti's ''

Lucia di Lammermoor ''Lucia di Lammermoor'' () is a (tragic opera) in three acts by Italian composer Gaetano Donizetti. Salvadore Cammarano wrote the Italian-language libretto loosely based upon Sir Walter Scott's 1819 historical novel '' The Bride of Lammermoo ...

'') during a recital, and a tour with Tom Waits, Bob Wilson and Marianne Faithfull in ''

The Black Rider ''The Black Rider: The Casting of the Magic Bullets'' is a self-billed "musical fable" in the avant-garde tradition created through the collaboration of theatre director Robert Wilson, musician Tom Waits, and writer William S. Burroughs. Wi ...

'' (2004–2006).

Awards

Thomas Bloch has been 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 was praised by critics in several music magazines and also in international composition competitions. Among other awards, he has won: the Classical Music Award 200 given by European critics in Cannes

Midem Midem is the acronym for Marché International du Disque et de l'Édition Musicale, which is organised annually in and around the Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes, France. The trade show, organized by Reed MIDEM, a subsidiary of Re ...

Victoires de la Musique Victoires de la Musique (; en, Victories of Music) is an annual French award ceremony where the Victoire accolade is delivered by the French Ministry of Culture to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. The classical and jazz ...

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'', and Choc in ''

Le Monde de la musique ''Le Monde de la musique'' was a French monthly musical magazine published from 1978 to 2009 with a circulation of 20,000 copies in 2008. It was founded in 1978 by ''Le Monde'' and ''Télérama ''Télérama'' is a weekly French cultural and tel ...

'' for his interpretation of the ''

Turangalîla-Symphonie The ''Turangalîla-Symphonie'' is the only symphony by Olivier Messiaen (1908–1992). It was written for an orchestra of large forces from 1946 to 1948 on a commission by Serge Koussevitzky in his wife's memory for the Boston Symphony Orchestr ...

'' by Messiaen.

Recordings

Bloch has recorded for a number of labels including Columbia,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

Erato Records Erato Records is a record label founded in 1953 as Disques Erato by Philippe Loury to promote French classical music. Loury was head of éditions musicales Costallat. His first releases in France were licensed from the Haydn Society of Boston, a ...

, and

Deutsche Grammophon Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...

. Since 1998, he has recorded for

Naxos Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ab ...

. His recordings include: *''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 Varèse *''Missa Cantate'' by Thomas Bloch.

Videos

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

References

External links

Thomas Bloch's website - including history, videos and pictures of glass harmonica, ondes Martenot, cristal Baschet
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bloch, Thomas Living people French classical musicians Glass harmonica players 1962 births People from Colmar Conservatoire de Paris alumni