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ESPERANZ'ARTS

Arts For All

Thomas Enhco

Piano

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Thomas Enhco was born in Paris on 29 September 1988. He began playing the violin at the age of 3 and the piano at the age of 6, studied classical and jazz in both instruments, wrote his first compositions and gave his first concerts with a group of children. In 1998, at the age of nine, he was invited by Didier Lockwood to play at the Antibes Juan-les-Pins Jazz Festival.  At the age of 10, he played small roles in films; at the age of 12, he entered the CMDL in piano and violin. He studied classical piano with the concert pianist and teacher Gisèle Magnan, and at the age of 16 joined the Paris Conservatory of Music in Jazz and Improvised Music, from which he was dismissed two years later.
 
At the age of 14, he formed his own trio, then composed and recorded his first album, Esquisse (sponsored by the legendary drummer Peter Erskine), released in March 2006 by Ames/Harmonia Mundi; the same year, he was elected Talent of the SACEM Action Fund, alongside Émile Parisien and Ibrahim Maalouf. He gives numerous concerts in France and throughout the world (Japan, USA, China, Russia, Canada, Germany, Israel, Morocco, Algeria, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Cambodia, Philippines, New Caledonia...), on piano and violin, and is regularly invited by French radio and television channels.  In parallel with his solo projects, he co-created in 2008 the show Le Jazz et la Diva Opus II, directed by Alain Sachs (more than 200 performances in France), and plays with Didier Lockwood in quintet and duo. 
 
During a tour in Japan in 2008, he was spotted by Itoh "88" Yasohachi, one of the greatest Japanese jazz producers, who decided to release his second album, Someday My Prince Will Come, in July 2009 in Japan (Blue in Green/Universal) and in March 2010 in France (Ames/Harmonia Mundi). With his trio, Thomas Enhco mixes his jazz influences (standards and original works) and classical influences (on Schumann and Chopin themes) with great musical intelligence. This album, voted "Must TSF Jazz" and winner of the "Django d'Or" 2010, is a public, critical and media success.
 
In 2010, Thomas Enhco successively won the 3rd prize at the Martial Solal International Jazz Piano Competition and the 2010 Django d'Or "New Talent". The same year, he composed the soundtrack for the film Aux Arts, Citoyens ! 
 

Throughout 2011, he is, in solo, duo and trio, performing in concert halls and festivals around the world. That year, he gave more than 130 concerts in 14 countries and on 4 continents, composed the soundtrack for Gérard Mordillat's film Les Cinq Parties du Monde, and produced and recorded his album Fireflies. 

The year 2012 kicks off with a bang: Thomas Enhco is awarded the FIPA d'Or 2012 for Best Original Music for the film Les Cinq Parties du Monde, and he records in New York, in the mythical Avatar studios, a trio album with Jack DeJohnette (Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett...) and John Patitucci (Chick Corea, Wayne Shorter...), produced by Mr. 88 and released only in Japan. 

In October 2012, his new trio album, entitled Fireflies, was released on Label Bleu, with Canadian Chris Jennings (double bass) and Belgian Nicolas Charlier (drums).  This opus resolutely takes the very personal and strong direction of Thomas Enhco: a completely original music, a powerful lyricism combined with a great narrative finesse, on the border between jazz and classical music. The album was a considerable critical success and opened the doors to international recognition.
 
At the Victoires de la Musique 2013, he received the Victoire "Jazz Revelation of the Year".
 
In 2013, Thomas Enhco was chosen by the BNP Paribas Foundation. He tours in France, the USA, Canada, Germany, Japan and South Korea, and plays for the first time at the International Piano Festival of La Roque d'Anthéron. Throughout 2014, he performed as a soloist, duo and trio, notably at the Folle Journée de Nantes et de Tokyo, in New York, Italy, China, Hong Kong, Turkey, Bulgaria, Japan (three tours a year), Denmark and Finland. Later this year, he will record his new solo album.
 
Since 2009, he has formed an explosive duo with the Bulgarian classical percussionist Vassilena Serafimova (piano and marimba/percussions) that has been unanimously acclaimed in the most prestigious classical and jazz music programs in France, New York, Lebanon and Bulgaria. This year, American composer Patrick Zimmerli dedicated an original work to them called Signs of Life, premiered in July 2014 in Pleven, Bulgaria.
 
Thomas Enhco has lived partly in New York since 2012.
 
Among the artists with whom he has collaborated are: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Didier Lockwood, Mike Stern, Peter Erskine, Jack DeJohnette, Daniel Humair, André Ceccarelli, Ari Hoenig, Victor Lewis, John Patitucci, Hein Van de Geyn, Émile Parisi

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