Bourgie Hall presents

The Jupiter Ensemble and Lea Desandre – Vivaldi Jupiter

For its first concert in Montreal, this astounding French ensemble presents a vocal and instrumental program devoted entirely to Vivaldi, based on their multi-award-winning album Vivaldi Jupiter, released in 2019.

Artists
Thomas Dunford, lute and artistic director

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. He 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 Paul O’Dette and Julian Bream​.

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 particular in New York’s Carnegie Hall and Frick Collection, London’s Wigmore Hall. He made numerous solo or ensemble appearances in the most prestigious European festivals including Ambronay,nBozar, La Chaise-Dieu, Nantes, Saintes, Utrecht and many others.

​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…

In 2018, at the age of thirty, Thomas Dunford created his own ensemble:  Jupiter, to which he invited all the musicians who had marked his career and with whom he wanted to lead a musical adventure as much as a friendly one.

Lea Desandre, mezzo-soprano

French-Italian mezzo-soprano Lea Desandre studied in Venice with Sara Mingardo and was selected for William Christie’s Jardin des Voix in 2015. She was awarded Vocal Discovery and Lyrical Artist of the Year at the Victoires de la Musique Awards in 2017 and 2021 respectively. In addition to her vocal talents, she is also a trained ballet dancer.

Most recently in 2021, she had huge success making her role debut as Cherubino (Le Nozze di Figaro/Mozart) in Aix-en-Provence. She has since sung it at Opéra de Paris, Zurich Opera House, Liceu Barcelona and Opéra de Lausanne.

Concert appearances and song recitals have taken her to places such as New York’s Carnegie Hall, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna Musikverein, Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, Berliner Philharmoniker, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées and Philharmonie de Paris, Mozarteum Salzburg, Sydney Opera House, Opéra National de Bordeaux, Alice Tully Hall NY, Tchaikovsky Concert Hall in Moscow, Shanghai Symphony Hall and Opéra de Versailles.

She has collaborated with conductors such as Gustavo Dudamel, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Myung-Whun Chung, Enrique Mazzola, William Christie, Marc Minkowski, Joana Mallwitz, Raphaël Pichon, Jordi Savall, Emmanuelle Haïm, Laurence Equilbey and Christophe Rousset, and directors such as Barrie Kosky, Christof Loy, Netia Jones, Lotte de Beer, Jan Lawyers, Jossi Wieler and Jean-Yves Ruf.

Louise Ayrton, violin
Augusta McKay Lodge, violin
Manami Mizumoto, viola
Bruno Philippe, cello
Douglas Balliett, double bass
Tom Foster, harpsichord and organ

Program
VIVALDI
Aria “Vedro con mio diletto”, from Giustino, RV 717
Aria “Armatae face et anguibus”, from Juditha triumphans, RV 644
Lute Concerto in C major, RV 82
Aria “Cum dederit”, from the motet Nisi Dominus, RV 608
“L’inverno“ (Winter) from The Four Seasons, RV 297
Lute Concerto in D major, RV 93
Aria “Gelido in ogni vena“ from Farnace, RV 711
Aria “Gelosia, tu già rendi l’alma mia”, from Ottone in Villa, RV 729
Cello Concerto in G minor, RV 416
Aria “Onde chiare che sussurrate”, from Ercole su’l Termodonte, RV 710
Aria « Scenderò, volerò, griderò » from Ercole su’l Termodonte, RV 710

Wednesday, March 15, 2023 at 7:30pm
To purchase your tickets visit: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/bourgie-hall/