Belgian tenor Thomas Blondelle’s vocal range spans from lyric-heroic parts, via character roles to operetta, and he is also “simply sensational in his acting” (Opernwelt 2/25).

He will open his 2025/26 season in Stefan Herheim’s new production of Die Fledermaus at the Theater an der Wien, in which he will appear as Gabriel von Eisenstein under the musical direction of Petr Popelka. He will also perform this role at the New National Theatre Tokyo and the Deutsche Oper Berlin. In Berlin, he will also appear at the Deutsche Oper as Loge (Das Rheingold) and Klaus-Narr (Gurre-Lieder), and with the State Ballet again in Winterreise. Under Kent Nagano, he will return to Siegfried in Wagner’s opera of the same name, this time in Lucerne, and under Donald Runnicles, he will make his role debut as Aegisth (Elektra) with the Dresden Philharmonic. He will also make his house and role debut as Guido Bardi in Tobias Kratzer’s new production of Zemlinsky’s A Florentine Tragedy at the Hamburg State Opera. At Opera Vlaanderen, he will sing Il pacifico avventore in L’uomo dal fiore in bocca by Belgian composer Luc Brewaeys.

In the 2024/25 season, he made his debut at the Bregenz Festival as Max (Der Freischütz) and at the Royal Danish Opera in Copenhagen as Apollo-Dionysos in Trojahn’s opera Orest. This was followed by Herod (Salome) at the Semperoper Dresden, as well as in two new productions, at the Opera Ballet Vlaanderen in Antwerp and at the Latvian National Opera in Riga. He then returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin as Herod and Baron Lummer (Intermezzo) and made his debut in the title role in Siegfried under the baton of Kent Nagano in Prague, Paris, and Dresden, among other cities. He performed with the Staatsballett Berlin in an orchestrated version of Schubert’s Winterreise, choreographed by Christian Spuck. Accompanied by the Spectra Ensemble, he sang Eine schöne Müllerin, a composition by Daan Janssens based on Franz Schubert’s song cycle, at the Odegand Festival in Ghent and the Leuven Transit Festival in Belgium. Operetta galas took him to the Festival of Nations in Bad Wörrishofen with Diana Damrau and to the Duisburg Philharmonic Orchestra with Mandy Fredrich for New Year’s Day.

While still studying, he gave his house debut at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, singing the leading role of Hans Scholl (Die Weiße Rose). At the Brunswick State Theater, where he was a member of the ensemble from 2006 to 2009, he sang Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Boris (Katya Kabanova), Orlando (Orlando Paladino), Cassio (Otello), Edwin (Die Csardasfürstin), Graf Zedlau (Wiener Blut), Alfredo (La Traviata) and Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus). From 2009 to 2023, Thomas Blondelle was a member of the ensemble at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, where he sang, amongst many other roles, Tamino (Die Zauberflöte), Loge (Das Rheingold), Herodes (Salome), Ismaele (Nabucco), Macduff (Macbeth), the Prince (L’amour des trois oranges), Chevalier de la Force (Dialogues des Carmélites), Male Chorus (The Rape of Lucretia), Eisenstein (Die Fledermaus), Erik (Der fliegende Hollände), Pelléas (Pelléas et Mélisande) and the eponymous role in Parsifal.

He has been invited by by distinguished theaters and festivals such as the Bavarian State Opera in Munich (Froh in Das Rheingold, Graf von Kent in Lear and the dance master in Ariadne auf Naxos), the Vienna Volksoper (Balduin in Wiener Blut), the Schleswig Holstein Music Festival (Gomatz in Zaide), the Saito Kinen Festival (tenor solo in Jeanne d’arc au bûcher), De Nederlandse Opera in Amsterdam (David in Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg and Herodes in Salome), the Lucerne Festival (Froh in Das Rheingold), the Festival d’Aix en Provence (the Drum Major in Wozzeck), the BBC Proms (Walther von der Vogelweide in Tannhäuser and Narraboth in Salome) and the Opéra National du Rhin in Strassbourg (Erik in Der Fliegende Holländer, Parsifal, Elis in Der Schatzgräber and Claudio in Das Liebesverbot). Further guest engagments include Max (Der Freischütz),  Erik (Der fliegende Holländer) and Das Lied von der Erde at the Stuttgart State Opera, Herodes (Salome) in Luxemburg, Belmonte (Die Entführungs aus dem Serail) and Herodes (Salome) at Frankfurt Opera, as well as a plethora of roles at the Hessian State Theater in Wiesbaden, where he appeared as Loge (Das Rheingold), Erik (Der fliegende Holländer), Lenski (Eugene Onegin), Matteo (Arabella), Tito (La clemenza di Tito), Idomeneo (Idomeneo) and Stolzing (Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg). He debuted at the Bregenz Festival as Max in Der Freischütz. He performed the solo tenor role in Jeanne d’Arc au bûcher with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center and at the Philharmonie de Paris, sang the Drum Major in Wozzeck with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in Glasgow and took over the leading role of Nikolaus Sprink in Kevin Puts’ Opera Silent Night at Cincinnati Opera.

On the concert stage, he performed with the Deutsches Sinfonieorchester Berlin, RIAS Kammerchor, Nancy Opera, St. Gallen Symphony Orchestra, Stuttgart Philharmonic, WDR Radio Orchestra, WDR Symphony Orchester Cologne, Nederlands Philharmonisch Orkest, Orchestre de Monte Carlo, Orchestre de Paris, Brussels Philharmonic, Vlaams Symfonieorkest and New York Philharmonic.

He worked with distinguished conductors such as 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.

An avid recitalist, his repertoire includes the main song cycles of the German Lied repertoire, 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” features songs by Schubert, Strauss and Wagner. In 2023, he created a dramatized song recital playing Ludwig van Beethoven and singing songs by the same composer.

He also works as a librettist and composer of predominantly art songs and chamber music. Since 2021, he. In 2021, he was appointed professor at the LUCA School of Arts, where he develops concepts and coaching for the institute’s opera productions.

The Belgian tenor was born in Bruges and studied vocal performance, piano, composition and chamber music at his home town’s Stedelijk Conservatory. At the KUL University of Leuven, he obtained a master’s degree in musicology in 2006. At the Viñas Competition in Barcelona, he was awarded the Prize for a Young Promising Contestant in 2005, and he won the Second Prize at the Concours Reine Elisabeth 2011 in Brussels, as well as the Palazetto Bru Prize at the 2012 Belvedere Competition in Vienna.