Sylvain Blassel is a harpist and conductor. Very early in his career, his position as Pierre Boulez’s assistant with the Ensemble InterContemporain led to many formative experiences: working for example with György Kurtag, György Ligeti, Brian Ferneyhough, and Helmut Lachenmann.
As an instrumentalist, Sylvain Blassel’s regular orchestral appearances also afforded him many defining musical moments - for example with Claudio Abbado, Sir Simon Rattle, Gustavo Dudamel, Valery Gergiev, Alan Gilbert, etc
Keen to expand the repertoire available to him as a harpist, Sylvain Blassel has come to specialise in the virtuoso adaptation of music hitherto undreamt-of on the harp. He performs not simply transcriptions of digestible solos, but giants of the piano and orchestra repertoire. These span periods from Guillaume de Machaut to the present day, and include deep explorations of Bach, Beethoven, Haydn and Liszt. These include works that tax the best of pianists (Liszt’s Campanella, Hungarian Rhapsodies…), and above all masterpieces - like the Goldberg Variations, and Beethoven’s last sonatas.
Fascinated by the organological development of his instrument, he also often plays with period orchestras. He has an extensive personal collection of instruments, and often presents multiple harps in the course of his recitals.
Sylvain Blassel is Professor of Harp at the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague. He is regularly invited to give masterclasses throughout the world: in New York, Tokyo, Toronto, Hong Kong, Hamburg, Berlin, Prague, Chicago, Seoul, Beijing, and Shanghai.