Thomas Dunford

Thomas Dunford, theorbo

Born in Paris in 1988, Thomas Dunford discovered the lute at the age of nine, thanks to his first teacher Claire Antonini. He completed his studies in 2006 at the Paris Conservatoire (CRR), where he was unanimously awarded 1st prize with distinction in Charles-Edouard Fantin’s class.

Thomas Dunford continued his studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel with Hopkinson Smith, and took part in several master classes with the likes of Rolf Lislevand and Julian Bream, as well as workshops with Eugène Ferré, Paul O’Dette, Pascale Boquet, Benjamin Perrot and Eduardo Eguez. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in 2009.

From September 2003 to January 2005, Thomas gave his first performances as the lutenist in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night at the Comédie Française. Since then, he has given recitals at Carnegie Hall and the Frick Collection in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, the Washington Kennedy Center, the Vancouver Recital Society, Cal Performances at Berkeley, the Banff Center, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, the Saintes, Utrecht, Maguelone and Froville festivals, the TAP in Poitiers, the WDR in Cologne, Radio France Montpellier and Saffron Hall. He has made numerous solo and ensemble appearances at Europe’s most prestigious festivals, including Ambronay, Arc La Bataille, Bozar, La Chaise-Dieu, Nantes, Saintes, Utrecht and many others. Thomas Dunford has also performed further afield, in England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, the USA, Israel, China, Japan and India.

Thomas Dunford’s first solo CD, Lachrimae, recorded for the French Alpha label in 2012, received unanimous critical acclaim and was awarded the 2013 Caecilia Prize, with BBC Magazine calling him “the Eric Clapton of the lute”. His second CD, “Labirinto d’Amore”, was awarded the “Choc” by Classica magazine.

Thomas Dunford is regularly invited to play a variety of early plucked string instruments with Les Arts Florissants, Akadêmia, Amarillis, Les Ambassadeurs, Arcangelo, La Cappella Mediterranea, Capriccio Stravagante, Le Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, La Chapelle Rhénane, Clematis, Collegium Vocale Gent, Le Concert Spirituel, Le Concert d’Astrée, A 2 Violes Esgales, The English Concert, Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, La Fenice, Les Folies Françoises, Irish Baroque Orchestra, Marsyas, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Les Musiciens du Paradis, Les Musiciens de Saint Julien, Les Ombres, Pierre Robert, Pygmalion, La Sainte Folie Fantastique, Scherzi Musicali, La Serenissima, Les Siècles, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, La Symphonie du Marais…

Thomas Dunford is drawn to a wide variety of music, including jazz, and collaborates on chamber music projects with conductors and soloists such as Paul Agnew, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Nicola Benedetti, Keyvan Chemirani, William Christie, Jonathan Cohen, Christophe Coin, Iestyn Davies, Lea Desandre, Isabelle Faust, Bobby McFerrin, Philippe Herreweghe, Monica Huggett, Alexis Kosenko, Francois Lazarévitch, Anne-Sophie von Otter, Trevor Pinnock, Patricia Petibon, Sandrine Piau, Anna Prohaska, Hugo Reyne, Anna Reinhold, Jean Rondeau, Skip Sempé, Jean Tubéry…