Thomas Waelbroeck is a Belgian fortepianist, pianist and harpsichordist.

 

He is currently an accompanist (fortepiano and harpsichord) in the early music department of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, where he also occasionally teaches ornamentation and improvisation. He is also a professor at the Royal Conservatory of Liège since 2025, teaching chamber music and introducing harpsichord and fortepiano to modern piano students.

 

He forms the Eidos Duo with flutist Géraldine Clément and collaborates notably with singer Caroline Jestaedt, with whom he dedicates himself to promoting the music of Danish composer JPE Hartmann and his wife Emma Hartmann. He also collaborates with many other artists of his generation on diverse and varied projects, including contemporary creations.

 

Thomas was born in 1991 in Brussels and began his professional musical career with the modern piano, which he studied at the Royal Conservatory of Liège under pianist Étienne Rappe. He graduated there in 2015 with a master's degree in piano, earning high distinction. He has since distinguished himself in numerous competitions, including the EPTA Belgium International Competition (prize for the best interpretation of a Belgian work), the Andrée Charlier Competition (second prize), and the former Dexia Classics Competition (first prize in piano and chamber music). He continued his training with internationally renowned artists, such as Pierre-Laurent Aimard at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln, where he undertook an Erasmus exchange in 2014-2015, as well as in Moscow, at the Gnessin School of Music, where he worked for a time with Natalia Zdobnova, and he participated in numerous masterclasses (for example with Nikolai Lugansky).

 

He then broadened his horizons by turning to piano accompaniment, which he studied with Philippe Riga at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels (graduating in 2019), before turning to early music, which opened up new perspectives for him. He studied harpsichord and basso continuo with Marie-Anne Dachy, then trained in fortepiano at the Early Music Department of the Royal Conservatory of Brussels. He graduated there in 2021 with highest honors, under the tutelage of Claire Chevallier. He is currently continuing his studies in harpsichord and, more generally, in historically informed performance with Kris Verhelst.

 

Alongside his musical career, Thomas developed a genuine passion for the technical aspects of the piano and fortepiano. He completed a two-year apprenticeship in piano maintenance and tuning, then worked for over two years at Piano's Maene as a tuner, for clients, concert tunings, recording sessions on historical instruments, and preparing second hand instruments for sale.