Lea Desandre mezzo-soprano
Jupiter
Thomas Dunford lute & direction
The clear bright tone of Lea Desandre and Thomas Dunford’s lute form a stunning duet.
Dates
Works by Telemann (Orpheus), Handel (Alcina, Agrippina), Lully (Armide), Desmarests, Arne, Leveridge, Torri
About
She is one of the rising stirs in the vocal firmament. He is a brilliant lute player. Lea Desandre and Thomas Dunford met at conductor William Chrisitie’s Jardins des Voix. It was at this academy for young singers conceived by William Christie that Lea cut her operatic teeth. Her clear bright tone, stage presence and musicality were soon spotted. She was the “Revelation” opera singer at the Victoires de la musique classique awards in 2017, and was nominated in the opera singer category four years later. It was William Christie once again who identified her affinity with tragic roles and cast her in the lead role of Médée by Charpentier, a work which was entering the repertoire of the Paris Opera at the time. Since then, she has received numerous invitations to perform across a wide variety of repertoires. Tonight, she joins forces once again with the Jupiter Ensemble and Thomas on the lute to perform a selection of distinctive pieces from the French and Italian baroque canon.
Production Théâtre des Champs-Élysées