Thomas Leleu 汤马斯·勒路

 

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Thomas Leleu is the first tuba player to have ever won the award “Revelation Instrumental Soloist of the Year” at the annual French classical music award event, the Victoires de la Musique Classique.

 

From a very young age, Thomas Leleu has been recognised as the “young world star of the tuba (Europe 1). This absolute tuba genius, acknowledged by his peers, already has an impressive career. In his hands the tuba reveals all its richness, fineness and complexity, a range that may seem endless, where it can finally find a new breath, a new youth. Thomas Leleu is a true prodigy and deploys a surprising musicality and agility, dusting off the traditional image of the tuba. He wants to bring down the barriers that exist between classical and contemporary music. His style eclecticism and uninhibited approach to concert performances make him the ideal ambassador of the tuba.”

 

Born in Lille (France) in 1987, he started playing the tuba with his father. He later studied with François Thuillier and Philippe Legris. He joined the Conservatoire de Paris (the CNSM) at age 17, having won the first prize of the open competition; Thomas joined the tuba class of Gérard Buquet and Bernard Neuranter and the chamber music class of Jens Mc Manama. After a three-year training course he obtained the first prize for tuba and a degree awarded with distinctions. In 2006, he went on an international exchange at the Hochschule für Musik in Detmold (Germany) with Hans Nickel (Tuba solo at the WDR Orchestra of Köln).

 

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Thomas Leleu earned awards in several competitions throughout the world such as in Markneukirchen (Germany), Jeju City (South Korea), and Luxembourg. He has been principal tubist with the Marseille Philharmonic Opera since he turned 19. On February 20th 2014, aged 24, Thomas put the tuba in the spotlight by winning the “Revelation Instrumental Soloist of the Year” at the annual French classical music award event, the Victoires de la Musique Classique. He performs with numerous orchestras and is regularly invited by different festi- vals in France and abroad, as a soloist or with his unique and unprecedented en- semble The Thomas Leleu Sextet (tuba and string quintet).

 

Thomas has a passion for world music, jazz and modern music; the 2016/2017 season will see him create the show “The Tuba’s Trip”, co-produced by Tuba French Touch and the city of Marseille / Opéra-Odéon.

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Live 2016

Tuba's French Touch©

 

Thomas Leleu Sextet,

Théâtre Impérial de Compiègne (France).