LEA DESANDRE
& THOMAS DUNFORD

Lea Desandre & Thomas Dunford

Idylle is an appealing project bringing together mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre and lutenist Thomas Dunford on a journey through three centuries of French song exploring love, uncertainty, joy and the longing that words cannot always express. The programme begins with French Baroque music from the court of Louis XIV and the airs de cour, the refined and intimate music of the salons, recreated by a true specialist in the genre, Lea Desandre, who trained under the guidance of Sara Mingardo and rose to international prominence through Le Jardin des Voix by William Christie in 2015. Her elegant and flexible voice then moves through mélodies by Claude Debussy and Reynaldo Hahn before leading us to icons of twentieth-century French chanson such as Barbara and Françoise Hardy.