Mezzo-soprano
“Female Singer of the Year” at the Opus Klassik awards in 2022 and laureate of the Prix de la Critique 2024 as well as of the Victoires de la Musique, the French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre is one of her generation’s most inspiring talents. Her scenic artistry and musicality have led her to appear at some of the world’s most prestigious venues.
Highlights of 2025-2026 include many new roles at the opera: the title role of Theodora (Haendel), on tour with Jupiter/Thomas Dunford, Mélisande in a new production of Pelléas et Mélisande (Debussy) at the Monte-Carlo Opera, and Sesto in La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart) in a new production at the Zurich Opera. She embodies her signature role Cherubino again in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart) at the Opéra de Paris and Despina Cosi fan Tutte (Mozart) at the Salzburg Festival. She is also back in concert halls also with Thomas Dunford and Jupiter for several programme, notably in a European tour on the occasion of their new album Songs of Passion with Erato/Warner Classics. She continues her “Junge Wilde” residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund with a lieder and melodies recital with Tanguy de Williencourt. She is also in residency at Bozar Brussels for the season.
Among the highlights of recent years, she distinguished herself in the title role of Médée (Charpentier) as an “accomplished tragedienne” at the Palais Garnier, as well as Idamante in Idomeneo (Mozart), the title-role of Ariodante (Handel), Rosina in The Barber of Seville (Rossini), Dido in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Urbain in Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer), Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette (Gounod), Poppea Agrippina (Händel), Sapho/Iphise/Eglé Les Fêtes d’Hébé (Rameau), Timna in Samson (Rameau).
Since 2018, she has performed every year at the Salzburg Festival, as Myrrah/Echo Hotel Metamophorsis (Vivaldi), Cherubino Les Noces de Figaro (Mozart), Annio in La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart), Valletto/Amore in L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi), Abel in La Morte d’Abel (Caldara) and in numerous concerts.
Her Love of chamber music and the diversity of her projects have led her to being invited on concert tours in the USA, Canada, Japan, China, Korea, Australia, and in Europe. From Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall LA, Staatsoper Berlin, Paris Philharmonie, to the Aix en Provence Festival or also the Wigmore Hall.
She performs in duo with Alexandre Kantorow and Thomas Dunford, as well as under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Dunford, Raphaël Pichon… and in productions directed by Sir David McVicar, Barrie Kosky, Robert Carsen, Christof Loy, Jetske Mijnssen, Thomas Jolly.
Lea Desandre trained as a singer in Venice with Sara Mingardo. In 2015, she joined William Christie’s Le Jardin des Voix, then the Académie of the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 2016. She was named “Revelation of the Year” at the Victoires de la Musique Classique in 2017, and won the Prix HSBC and Prix des Médias Francophones Publics in 2018. As well as training as a singer, Lea Desandre has been a classical dancer for 12 years.
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