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Thomas Dunford, Lea Desandre & Jupiter
Biography Thomas Dunford, Lea Desandre & Jupiter
Lea Desandre
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.
Thomas Dunford
Born in Paris in 1988, Thomas Dunford discovered the lute at the age of nine, thanks to his first teacher Claire Antonini. He completed his studies in 2006 at the Conservatoire de Paris (CRR), when he obtained a unanimous 1st Prize with honors in the class of Charles-Edouard Fantin.
Thomas Dunford continued his studies at the Schola Cantorum in Basel with Hopkinson Smith, and participated in several master classes with artists the caliber of Rolf Lislevand and Julian Bream, and in workshops with Eugène Ferré, Paul O’Dette, Pascale Boquet, Benjamin Perrot and Eduardo Eguez. He was awarded his Bachelor’s degree in 2009.
From September 2003 through to January 2005, Thomas gave his first performances playing the role of the lutenist in Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night on stage at the Comédie française. Since then, Thomas has played recitals in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Frick Collection, London’s Wigmore Hall, the Washington Kennedy Center, the Vancouver Recital Society, Cal performances at Berkeley, the Banff center, the Palau de la Musica in Barcelona, the festivals of Saintes, Utrecht, Maguelone, Froville, TAP Poitiers, WDR Cologne, Radio France Montpellier, Saffron Hall. He made numerous solo or ensemble appearances in the most prestigious European festivals including Ambronay, Arc La Bataille, Bozar, La Chaise-Dieu, Nantes, Saintes, Utrecht and many others. He has also performed further afield in England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Austria, Norway, Belgium, Netherlands, Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, Romania, Estonia, Czech Republic, Bresil, Colombia, Chili, Mexico, United States, Israel, China, Japan and India.
Thomas Dunford’ first solo CD Lachrimae recorded for the French label Alpha in 2012, was unanimously acclaimed by critics and was awarded the Caecilia prize of 2013, BBC Magazine calling him the “Eric Clapton of the lute”. His second CD « Labirinto d’Amore » was awarded the « Choc » from Classica magazine.Thomas Dunford is regularly in demand, playing a variety of early plucked string instruments with the ensembles Les Arts Florissants, Akadêmia, Amarillis, Les Ambassadeurs, Arcangelo, La Cappella Mediterranea, Capriccio Stravagante, Le Centre de Musique Baroque de Versailles, La Chapelle Rhénane, Clematis, Collegium Vocale Gent, Le Concert Spirituel, Le Concert d’Astrée, A 2 Violes Esgales, The English Concert, l’Ensemble Baroque de Limoges, La Fenice, Les Folies Francaises, the Irish Baroque Orchestra, Marsyas, Les Musiciens du Louvre, Les Musiciens du Paradis, Les Musiciens de Saint Julien, Les Ombres, Pierre Robert, Pygmalion, La Sainte Folie Fantastique, Scherzi Musicali, La Serenissima, Les Siècles, the Scottish Chamber Orchestra, La Symphonie du Marais…Thomas Dunford is attracted to a wide variety of music including jazz, and collaborates in chamber music projects with conductors and soloists Paul Agnew, Leonardo Garcia Alarcon, Nicola Benedetti, Keyvan Chemirani, William Christie, Jonathan Cohen, Christophe Coin, Iestyn Davies, Lea Desandre, Isabelle Faust, Bobby McFerrin, Philippe Herreweghe, Monica Huggett, Alexis Kosenko, Francois Lazarévitch, Anne-Sophie von Otter, Trevor Pinnock, Patricia Petibon, Sandrine Piau, Anna Prohaska, Hugo Reyne, Anna Reinhold, Jean Rondeau, Skip Sempé, Jean Tubéry…
