"Und Lea Desandre als Despina, die Kammerzofe mit pfeffriger Zunge, ist einfach Spitze: quecksilbrig flott ihr Sopran, pointiert das Spiel – ihr Solo mit Schneebesen und Soßentiegel zündet Hunderte Lacher im Saal – und zugleich hintersinnig." FAZ 

French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre was 20 when she was awarded a place on William Christie’s Le Jardin des Voix Academy. In 2017 she was named Vocal Disovery at the Victoires de la Musique Classique Awards. She studied with Sara Mingardo in Venice and can also look back on a 12-year period of training as a ballet dancer.

Since 2015 Lea Desandre has been acclaimed in various roles, including Urbain (Les Huguenots), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Annio (La clemenza di Tito), Sesto (Giulio Cesare), Dido (Dido and Aeneas), Messaggera (L’Orfeo), Flerida in Cavalli’s Erismena and the title role in Marais’ Alcione.

In 2018 she delighted her audiences at the Paris Opéra Comique in a fully-staged one-woman show, Et in Arcadia ego, with music by Rameau.

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She made her Salzburg Festival debut at Whitsun 2018 in Offenbach’s La Périchole under Marc Minkowski, returning that same summer as Amore and Valletto (L’incoronazione di Poppea) under Christie/Lawers and at Whitsun 2019 for Caldara’s oratorio La morte d’Abel and for the gala concert Farinelli & Friends with Cecilia Bartoli. In the summer 2019 she was heard as Vénus in Orphée aux enfers under Mazzola/Kosky and for the 100 years of the Festival, she made her debuts as Despina (Cosi Fan Tutte) under Mallwitz/Loy.

Concert appearances and song recitals have taken her to London’s Wigmore Hall, the Vienna Musikverein, the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and the Philharmonie de Paris, the Opéra National de Bordeaux, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Sydney Opera House, the Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Shanghai Symphony Hall ...

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As a committed chamber recitalist she also appears regularly with the lutenist Thomas Dunford and his Jupiter ensemble. In addition to the above-named conductors, she has also worked with John Eliot Gardiner, Louis Langrée, Raphaël Pichon, Jordi Savall, Emmanuelle Haïm, Enrique Mazzola and Leonardo García Alarcón.

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Lea Desandre’s CDs include Barricades with Jean Rondeau, Vivaldi with the Jupiter ensemble, Handel: Italian Cantatas with Sabine Devieilhe, Berenice, che fai? with Opera Fuoco and Cities with Thibault Cauvin.

Plans for 2020/21 include Hippolyte et Aricie at the Opéra Comique, Idamante (Idomeneo) at the Berlin State Opera, L’Amour (Orphée et Eurydice) in Versailles, Annio (La Clemenza di Tito) at the Salzburg Whitsun Festival and Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro) at the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence. A concert tour celebrating the release of her first solo album, Amazones (Erato), will take her and the Jupiter ensemble to the Philharmonie de Paris, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Wigmore Hall, Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence and elsewhere. She will also be heard as Tamiri in a concert performance of Il re pastore at the Salzburg Mozartwoche Festival. 

BACRI
Cosi Fanciulli – Dorabella 

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BLOW

Venus and Adonis- Venus 

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BELLINI
I Capuleti ei  Montecchi - Roméo ​

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CAVALLI
Erismena – Flerida 

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CHABRIER
L’étoile – Lazuli

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CHARPENTIER

Actéon - Junon 

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DEBUSSY

Pelléas et Mélisande - Mélisande 

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GOUNOD
Roméo et Juliette – Stéphano
Faust – Siebel

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GLUCK
Orphée et Euridice – Orphée, Amour

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HANDEL
Ariodante – Ariodante 
Giulio Cesare – Sesto, Cleopatra 
Alcina – Ruggiero 

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​MARAIS
Alcione – Alcione 

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MASSENET

Cendrillon - Cendrillon, Le Prince 

Chérubin - Chérubin 

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MEYERBEER

Les Huguenots - Urbain​ 

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MONTEVERDI

L’Incoronazione di Poppea – Valletto, Amore 

Orfeo – Messaggiera, Speranza, Proserpina 

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MOZART
Le Nozze di Figaro – Cherubino 
La Clemenza di Tito – Annio 

Idomeneo - Idamante 
La Finta Giardiniera – Don Ramiro 
Don Giovanni – Zerlina 
Cosi Fan Tutte – Despina 

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OFFENBACH
Les contes d’Hoffmann – Nicklausse 
La Périchole – Mastrilla/Frasquinella 

Orphée aux Enfers - Cupidon, Vénus 

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RAMEAU

Castor et Pollux - Télaïre 

Hippolyte et Aricie - La Grande Prêtresse, la matelote, la chasseresse et une bergère

Les Surprises de l'Amour - Uranie 

Les Fêtes d'Hébé - Iphise 

Dardanus - Vénus 

Zoroastre - Erinice 

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RAVEL
L’Enfant et les Sortilèges – L’enfant, l’écureuil

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PURCELL
Fairy Queen – Sop
Dido and Aeneas – Dido 

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ROSSINI
Il Barbiere di Siviglia – Rosina
La Cenerentola – Cenerentola​

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VIVALDI
Il Tamerlano – Andronico

BERLIOZ 

Roméo et Juliette - Mezzo Soprano

Les Nuits d'Eté

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HANDEL
La Lucrezia
Armida Abbandonata
Giu nei Tartarei
Che vai pensando

Aminta e Fillide (Fillide)

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HAYDN

Berenice che fai

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MERULA

Canzonetta sopra alla nanna

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MONTEVERDI

Lettera Amorosa

Lamento d'Arianna

Lamento della Ninfa

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MOZART
Ch’io mi scordi di te

Chi sa, chi sa

Vado, ma dove ?

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STROZZI

Eraclito Amorosa 

Lagrime mie

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