Thomas Dunford
Lutenist Thomas Dunford has an unusually broad range of experiences as a solo recitalist, chamber player, and ensemble leader. He was a longtime member of Ensemble Marsyas, where his interests extended to jazz as well as classical music, and he directs the ensemble Jupiter, which he founded.
Dunford was born in Paris in 1988. He took up the lute at age nine. At the Conservatoire Supérieure de Paris, he studied with Charles-Edouard Fantin and won the school's first prize honors in 2006. Dunford went on to the Schola Cantorum in Basel, Switzerland, where he studied with lutenist Hopkinson Smith and took master classes and workshops with top lutenists, including Julian Bream, Paul O'Dette, and Rolf Lislevand. He received a bachelor's degree from the Schola Cantorum in 2006. By that time, Dunford was already finding performance opportunities. Between 2003 and 2005, he played the role of the lutenist in a production of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night at the Comédie Française.
Since then, Dunford's career as a recitalist has been international. He has appeared at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Palau de la Música Catalana in Barcelona, and Wigmore Hall in London, among other top venues, and has appeared as far afield as China, India, and Chile. Dunford is a familiar figure at European festivals, and he has appeared with major European early music ensembles, including La Serenissima, Capriccio Stravagante, Les Arts Florissants, and the Eliza Consort, with which he made his recording debut, Byrd, Dowland: Ye Sacred Muses, in 2012. His solo debut, Dowland: Lachrimae, followed on the Alpha label in 2013. Dunford was a member of Ensemble Marsyas, formed in 2011, and in 2018, he established the ensemble Jupiter, consisting mostly of young musicians. Dunford has recorded for the Alpha, Hyperion, and Wigmore Hall Live labels. In 2019, with Jupiter, he released the album Vivaldi on Alpha, featuring instrumental and vocal selections. Dunford backed mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre on a pair of albums on Warner Classics/Erato, Amazone and Eternal Heaven: Handel, in 2021 and 2022, respectively. He lives in Paris.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Discography
17 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Idylle
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 13 Oct 2023
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Eternal Heaven
Thomas Dunford, Jupiter, Lea Desandre, Iestyn Davies
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 18 Nov 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Mad Lover
Thomas Dunford, Théotime Langlois de Swarte
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 13 Nov 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vivaldi : Airs d'opéras - Concertos
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on 25 Oct 2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Amazone
Lea Desandre, Jupiter, Thomas Dunford
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 17 Sep 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach : Suites, BWV 995, 1007 - Partita BWV 1004 (Arranged for Lute)
Chamber Music - Released by Alpha Classics on 8 Jun 2018
Gramophone Editor's Choice24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
The Mad Lover
Théotime Langlois de Swarte, Thomas Dunford
Classical - Released by harmonia mundi on 13 Nov 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Barricades
Classical - Released by Warner Classics on 24 Apr 2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Sonates & solo pour la flûte traversière
François Lazarevitch, Jean Rondeau, Lucile Boulanger, Thomas Dunford
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on 1 Jan 2014
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Dowland: Lachrimae
Thomas Dunford, Ruby Hughes, Reinoud Van Mechelen, Paul Agnew
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on 26 Mar 2013
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Kapsberger: Labirinto d’amore
Classical - Released by Alpha Classics on 6 May 2014
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Dowland: The Art of Melancholy – Lute Songs
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 30 Mar 2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Pierre Attaingnant : Auprès de vous
Pierre Gallon, Thomas Dunford, Freddy Eichelberger
Classical - Released by L'encelade on 1 Jan 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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Flow My Tears - Songs For Lute, Viol and Voice - Wigmore Hall Live
Iestyn Davies, Thomas Dunford, Jonathan Manson
Vocal Music (Secular and Sacred) - Released by Wigmore Hall Live on 9 Feb 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Sainte-Colombe le fils: Tombeau pour Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe le père - 5 suites pour viole seule
Jonathan Dunford, Thomas Dunford
Classical - Released by Universal Music Division Decca Records France on 1 Jan 2004
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dowland: The Art of Melancholy – Lute Songs
Classical - Released by Hyperion on 30 Mar 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo