17 June 2018 at 20:00

Thomas Ospital (France)

in association with Pipeworks

Born in 1990, Thomas Ospital began his musical studies at the Conservatoire Maurice Ravel in Bayonne, France, completing his studies with Esteban Landart in 2008. From then until 2015 he was a student at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique de Paris, where he earned five first place prizes in organ, improvisation, harmony, counterpoint and fugue. His teachers at the Paris Conservatoire included Olivier Latry, Michel Bouvard, Thierry Escaich, Philippe Lefebvre, László Fassang, Isabelle Duha, Pierre Pince, and Jean-François Zygel.

He currently serves as titular organist of the largest pipe organ in France: the Grand Organ at St Eustache in Paris. He is also organist-in-residence at the Maison de la Radio (Radio France), where he presides over the new concert hall organ built by Gerhard Grenzing.

A laureate of many competitions, he was awarded first prize at the 2009 International Competition of Organ in Saragossa, Spain, the Duruflé prize and the audience prize at the 2012 International Chartres Competition, and second prize at the 2013 International Xavier Darasse Competition in Toulouse. In May of 2014 he took the Jean Louis Florentz prize and the audience prize at the International Organ Competition of Angers under the direction of the Académie des Beaux-Arts. And most recently, in November of 2014 he was awarded second prize, audience prize and the Florentz prize at the International Chartres Competition.

Mr Ospital is equally at home performing as a solo recitalist or with choir or orchestra. He has a particular interest in the art of improvisation, including the accompaniment of silent films. His performances have taken him throughout Europe, including the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy, Greece, Germany, Switzerland and Holland. He has also performed in Russia and in North America, where in 2012 he served for six months as Young Artist in Residence at the Cathedral-Basilica of Saint Louis King of France in New Orleans, USA.