French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre studied with Sara Mingardo and perfected her skills at William Christie’s »Jardin des Voix« academy. Since being crowned »Vocal discovery of the year« at the Victoires de la Musique Classique 2017, she has been the darling of the world’s foremost opera houses and festivals. Her stage presence and expressive voice have taken the trained dancer to the Opéra National and Opéra Garnier in Paris, the Grand Théâtre de Genève, the Salzburg Festival, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Carnegie Hall in New York, the Sydney Opera House and the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, among others. Lea Desandre has worked with illustrious conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Joana Mallwitz, Adám Fischer, Raphaël Pichon, Marc Minkowski and Jordi Savall as well as with directors such as Sir David McVicar, Barrie Kosky, Robert Carsen, Christof Loy and Thomas Jolly. She impressed audiences in the title roles of Charpentier’s »Médée« and Purcell’s »Dido and Aeneas«, as Rosina in Rossini’s »Il barbiere di Siviglia«, as Cherubino in Mozart’s »Le nozze di Figaro« and Idamante in »Idomeneo«, Poppea in Handel’s »Agrippina« and in the title role of »Ariodante«, to name but a few.

She also persues her love for the delicate art of lieder singing with her partner, the lutenist Thomas Dunford. 2023saw the release of her third album »Idylle«, with French love songs from three centuries, from baroque masters such as Marc-Antoine Carpentier to Offenbach and Debussy all the way to the icons of chanson Barbara and Françoise Hardy.