Jupiter Ensemble
Lea Desandre, mezzo

Founded in 2018 by lutenist Thomas Dunford, Jupiter Ensemble was born from the meeting and friendship between Mr. Dunford and young, brilliant musicians of his generation: Lea Desandre, Jean Rondeau, Douglas Balliett, Bruno Philippe, Sophie Gent, Thibaut Garcia, and Peter Whelan. The great freedom, energy, listening and improvisation skills of each individual musician allow them to perform with passion, strength, and emotion as a virtuoso ensemble. Their mastery is on display in all genres from Vivaldi to Joaquin Rodrigo, through Handel, Destouches, Couperin, Mancini or original compositions by Thomas Dunford and Douglas Balliett.

Jupiter Ensemble's first disc, released in autumn 2019 for the Alpha label, is dedicated to Vivaldi. Alternating extracts from operas and instrumental concerti, it highlights the different soloists of the ensemble. The multiple awards garnered for this recording confirm the success of this first project: Diamant Opéra Magazine, Caecillia prize awarded by Union of the Belgian Music Press, International Classical Music Awards (ICMA), and France Musique choice.

Jupiter Ensemble recorded its second album Amazone, a recital by Lea Desandre, for the Erato-Warner Classics label. Composed of arias from French and Italian operas, this new disc features works from the 17th and 18th centuries. Also for Erato-Warner Classics, the ensemble released Eternal Heaven in 2022 featuring countertenor Iestyn Davies and the music of Handel.

Jupiter Ensemble has performed worldwide at such prestigious venues as Wigmore Hall, Philharmonie de Paris, La Chaux de Fonds, Festival de Pâques d’Aix-en-Provence, Köln Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Rouen Opera, and the Salle Gaveau in Paris, among others.

Jupiter Ensemble is sponsored by La Caisse des Dépôts, its principal patron, and is in residence at the Singer-Polignac Foundation. Jupiter Ensemble is a member of FÉVIS and PROFEDIM.

The Franco-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre, named “Female Singer of the Year” by Opus Klassik 2022 and winner of the Prix de la Critique 2024, 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, such as the Opéra National de Paris, the Salzburg Festival, the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House or else the Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles.

Among her upcoming dates in 2024-25: Les Nuits d’Eté (Berlioz) with the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France/Mikko Franck, a new recital with Alexandre Kantorow and the Idylle programme with Thomas Dunford. She will also be on tour with the Ensemble Jupiter with Songs of Passion as well as a Vivaldi programme and will start a residency at the Konzerthaus Dortmund. At the Opera, the season will be entirely devoted to a succession of new roles: Sapho/Iphise/Eglé in Les Fêtes d’Hébé (Rameau) at the Opéra Comique, Poppea in Agrippina (Handel) at the Zurich Opera and two stage productions at the Salzburg Festival.

Last season, she stood out in the title role of Médée (Charpentier) as an “accomplished tragic actress” at the Palais Garnier, as well as Idamante in Idomeneo (Mozart) at the Grand Théâtre de Genève and as Ariodante (Handel) on a European tour.

Among the highlights of the past few years have been her performances in such roles as Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviliga (Rossini), Dido in Dido and Aeneas (Purcell), Urbain in Les Huguenots (Meyerbeer), Stéphano in Roméo et Juliette (Gounod) or else Timna in Samson (Rameau). She came to international attention in the role of Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro (Mozart), which she has sung in seven different productions since her debuts in 2021: at the Aix-en-Provence Festival, the Opéra National de Paris, El Liceu in Barcelona, the Zurich Opera House, the Lausanne Opera, the Ravenna Opera and the Salzburg Festival.

Since 2018, she has performed every year at the Salzburg Festival, in particular as Despina in Cosi fan Tutte (Mozart), Annio in La Clemenza di Tito (Mozart), Valletto/Amore in L’Incoronazione di Poppea (Monteverdi), Venus in Orphée aux Enfers (Offenbach) or else Abel in La Morte d’Abel (Kreutzer).

Her love of chamber music and the diversity of her projects have led her to being invited on concert tours in the USA (NYC, Philadelphia, Washington, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego), Canada (Vancouver, Montreal, Toronto), Japan (Tokyo, Osaka, Hokkaido), China, Korea, Australia (Perth, Melbourne, Sydney) and Europe: the Wigmore Hall, the Philharmonie de Paris, the Berliner Philharmonie, the Wiener Musikverein and the Konzerthaus Wien, Santa Cecilia Roma, the Hamburg Elbphilharmonie, and the Opera houses of Bordeaux, Strasbourg and Dijon.

She has sung under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, William Christie, Myung-Whun Chung, Joana Mallwitz, Thomas Dunford, Adam Fischer, Raphaël Pichon, Carlo Rizzi, Cristian Macelaru, Manfred Honeck, Marc Minkowski, Jordi Savall and in productions directed by Sir David McVicar, Barrie Kosky, Robert Carsen, Christof Loy or Thomas Jolly.

Lea Desandre trained as a singer in Venice under 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 the 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.