Thomas Dunford

A French lute and theorbo player of American origin, Thomas Dunford is the founder of the early music ensemble Jupiter, and performs regularly with mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre. The son of Jonathan Dunford and Sylvia Abramovicz, both American viola da gamba specialists, Thomas Dunford was born in Paris in 1988 and studied music at the Conservatoire National Supérieur from 2006 to 2009. After graduating, he continued his training at the Schola Cantorum in Basel with lute master Hopkinson Smith, before pursuing his own career in early music. His first recording for the Alpha label in 2012, Lachrimæ, on pieces by John Dowland, was awarded the Cæcilia Prize the following year, and the BBC's classical music magazine dubbed him the "Eric Clapton of the lute". His next recital, Labirinto d'Amore (2014), with mezzo-soprano Anna Reinhold, received a "Choc" from Classica magazine. Between performances with Les Arts Florissants, Le Concert Spirituel, Le Concert d'Astrée and the Centre de musique baroque de Versailles, as well as collaborations with British countertenor Iestyn Davies and Jonathan Cohen's Arcangelo ensemble, the lutenist extends his discography with the collections Bach (2018) and Vivaldi (2019), the first recording with his Jupiter ensemble, which brings together elite soloists. He then collaborates with harpsichordist Jean Rondeau on Barricades (2020) and violinist Théotime Langlois de Swarte on The Mad Lover (2020), before teaming up with mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre for Amazone (2021). A duo on stage, a couple in the city, they concocted two further works, Handel: Eternal Heaven with Iestyn Davies (2022), then Idylle (2023), featuring varied compositions by Erik Satie, Gustave Charpentier, Reynaldo Hahn, Claude Debussy, Jacques Offenbach, Barbara and Françoise Hardy.