Lea Desandre
Mezzo-soprano

The French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre studied with Sara Mingardo in Venice and in 2015 was accepted into William Christie’s academy Le Jardin des Voix. She was awarded the title of ‘Révélation Lyrique’ at the 2017 Victoires de la Musique Classique. She has also trained professionally as a ballet dancer.
Her engagements in the 2023/24 season include a European tour under Christie in the title role of Ariodante, Idamante (Idomeneo) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the title role in Charpentier’s Médée at the Paris Opéra and Timna in Rameau’s Samson and Annio (La clemenza di Tito) at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence.
On the concert platform she recently appeared in the New Year’s Concert at the Berlin Konzerthaus under Joana Mallwitz. She performs throughout Europe with the Jupiter Ensemble under Thomas Dunford in the programmes Chasing Rainbows (exploring the songs of Julie Andrews), Vivaldi and Songs of Passion. With Dunford she returned to Carnegie Hall in New York in autumn 2023 with the programme Lettera Amorosa, and presented the programme of their new album Idylle on a tour to Japan, and elsewhere.
Past concert engagements and recitals have taken her to venues including the Wigmore Hall in London, the Vienna Musikverein, the Berlin State Opera, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Philharmonie in Paris, the Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Opéra Royal de Versailles, the International Mozarteum Foundation in Salzburg, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Sydney Opera House, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow and the Shanghai Symphony Hall.
Lea Desandre has worked with conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, John Eliot Gardiner, Myung-Whun Chung, Enrique Mazzola, Manfred Honeck, Marc Minkowski, Raphaël Pichon, Jordi Savall, Emmanuelle Haïm, Laurence Equilbey and Christophe Rousset.
Following her Salzburg Festival debut in Offenbach’s La Périchole at the 2018 Whitsun Festival she has returned as Amore and Valletto (L’incoronazione di Poppea), Vénus (Orphée aux enfers), Despina (Così fan tutte), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) and in several concerts.
Her past engagements also include Flerida in Cavalli’s Erismena in Aix-en-Provence, Urbain (Les Huguenots) in Geneva, Idamante at the Berlin State Opera, Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia) in Rouen and Messaggera (L’Orfeo) at the Harris Theater in Chicago.
She was awarded an OPUS Klassik as Female Singer of the Year for her first solo album Amazone, recorded with the Jupiter Ensemble and Thomas Dunford. Her second album Eternal Heaven, with Iestyn Davies and the Jupiter Ensemble, was released in 2022.
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