Lea Desandre

Lea Desandre (pronunciation: dézandré) (Paris, 1993) is a French mezzo-soprano of partly Italian descent. Her repertoire spans from the 17th to the 19th century, with a specialization in the authentic performance practice of baroque music.

Lea Desandre was born in Paris and grew up in an artistic environment: her grandmother was a choir singer at the Grand-Théâtre in Bordeaux and both her parents worked in the film industry. As a child, Desandre was mainly interested in ballet, in which she was active until the age of 19. On the recommendation of her music teacher at school, she became a member of the children's choir of the Nationale Opera in Paris at the age of 12. She traveled all over Paris to attend concerts by her idol, opera singer Natalie Dessay, and visited places where opera stars gathered. Thanks in part to their encouragement, she decided in the final year of her secondary school studies to enroll at the Conservatoire à Rayonnement Régional (CRR) in Boulogne-Billancourt. Here she received singing lessons from Esthel Durand, choir member of the choir of the Nationale Opera in Paris. Subsequently, she went to Venice to study with alto Sara Mingardo.

In 2014 Desandre joined the ensemble Les Arts Florissants of William Christie, which specializes in (mainly) French baroque music.