The operatic newcomer award winner at France’s Victoires de la Musique Classique 2017, the Franco-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre also won the the HSBC prize at the Festival of Aix en Provence in 2016. Having trained in Paris, then in Venice, with Sara Mingardo, she was also a ballet dancer for 12 years. At the young age of 20, she was the winner of the prestigious "Jardin des Voix" of William Christie with whom she set off on a world tour: Alice Tully Hall, Sydney Opera House, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall, KKL Luzern, Philharmonie de Paris.
After embodying Dorabella in the premiere of Nicolas Bacri’s Cosi Fanciulli at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées in 2014, she first appeared at the Shanghai Symphony Hall in the works of Handel, as Sesto in Giulio Cesare and Ruggiero in Alcina conducted by David Stern, then at the Theater an der Wien with Raphael Pichon as Céphise in Rameau's Zoroastre.
The 2017 season has presented for this mezzo-soprano the opportunity to make her debut on the Paris stage at the Opéra-Comique in the title role of Alcione conducted by Jordi Savall. She has also stood out: in the role of Messaggiera in Monteverdi's Orfeo at the Musikverein Wien, in Madrid and at the Philharmonie de Paris, with Sir John Eliot Gardiner at the Harris Theater Chicago & Alice Tully Hall; as Flerida in a new production of Cavalli's Erismena at the Festival d’Aix in Provence; as Annio in La Clemenza di Tito with Marc Minkowski in Prague; in Mozart's Requiem at the Opéra de Versailles conducted by Jean-Claude Malgoire; as Dido in Purcell's Dido and Aeneas with William Christie at the Walt Disney Concert Hall; in a Monteverdi tour in Washington and NY with the Opera Lafayette conducted by Thomas Dunford; in Offenbach's La Périchole (Mastrilla/Ninetta) in Salzburg at the Easter Festival; in Rameau's Et in Arcadia Ego at the Opéra-Comique with Christophe Rousset.
Deeply attached to chamber music, Lea Desandre also gives recitals with her accomplice the lutist Thomas Dunford (Konzerthaus Wien, Opéra de Bordeaux, Salle Cortot) or else French song with the pianist Sarah Ristorcelli.
Future plans: Monteverdi's L’Incoronazione di Poppea at the Salzburger Festspiele; Caldara's La morte di Abel in Pavia (Italy) and in Salzburg; Orfeo ed Euridice at the Opéra Comique; Orfeo (Messaggiera) at the Théâtre des Champs-Elysées.
June 2018