Born
in
1991
in
Strasbourg,
Thomas
Kientz
is
a
French
organist
and
improviser,
international concert performer.
Thomas Kientz is a laureate of several international competitions: the Olivier Messiaen competition (Lyon 2019), the 8th organ competition of Saint-Maurice (Switzerland 2015), the "Grand
Prix
Florentz"
of
the
Académie
des
Beaux-Arts
(Angers
2016),
the
André
Marchal/Gaston Litaize competition (2017), the Schnitger competition of Alkmaar (Netherlands, 2017).
Since
then,
he
has
had
an
international
career
as
a
concert
artist
and
organ
improviser.
He
is regularly invited to prestigious festivals in France, Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Belgium, Luxembourg, Spain, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States where he was artist in residence at the Cathedral of New Orleans (Louisiana).
Thomas
Kientz
is
a
professor
at
the
Haute
Ecole
de
Musique
(HEMU)
in
Lausanne/Fribourg
and teaches at the Royal Conservatory in Brussels.
He
is
also
titular
organist
at
the
Abbey
of
Saint-Maurice
(VS).
At
the
Conservatoire
National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris,
Thomas
Kientz
studied
with
Olivier
Latry,
Michel
Bouvard,
Thierry
Escaich,
Philippe
Lefebvre,
Yves Henry,
Pierre
Pincemaille,
Laszlo
Fassang,
Isabelle
Duha,
Alain
Mabit.
He
holds
a
Master's
degree in organ performance, a Master's degree in improvisation, and Prizes in harmony, counterpoint, 20th/XXIst century writing and Fugue. In addition, he met in Brussels the Belgian composer
Benoît Mernier and within the framework of the Higher Institute of Music in Namur (Belgium) obtained a Master's degree specialized in organ interpretation.
On the recording front, Thomas Kientz has made several recordings, including his complete Homilius organchorales published by Hortus. It has been acclaimed by the critics, obtained 5 diapasons and 5 stars in Classica."This endearing repertoire finally benefits from its reference version", X.Bisaro, Diapason, n°667, p 91.
Passionate about creation in all its forms and about timbre, Thomas Kientz is also a composer. His work Dominus Illuminatio mea for grand-organ won the composition competition of Saint- Sulpice in Paris. He also won a 3rdprize in the competition of the Swiss Society of Contemporary Music (ISCM) with his work for choir O Virgo Splendens.