Jupiter Ensemble

“We are very free,” says Thomas Dunford about his Jupiter Ensemble. “In fact, we’re as spontaneous as a jazz band.”  As we heard on our series in 2023, this spontaneity, coupled with the joyful synergy between these world-class musicians, makes the music leap off the stage.

“Freedom and space then emerge for direct expression in a way I have never experienced elsewhere,” explains Lea Desandre.

When Thomas Dunford founded Jupiter in 2018 he wanted to “bring together a collective of exceptional musicians from the new generation, [where] each artist invited to join this project is brilliant in the mastery of his or her instrument…” The group quickly became one of the most exciting and sought after ensembles on the early music scene. They have released five albums and performed all over the world including Wigmore Hall and Carnegie Hall, performing there again the week before coming to Columbus. They make their BBC Proms debut in the summer of 2026.

Lea Desandre has “one of today’s most exciting voices in early-music performance” (The New York Times) and is a regular collaborator with the Jupiter Ensemble. Considered one of her generation’s most inspiring talents, Desandre has appeared on stages worldwide and makes a yearly appearance at the Salzburg Festival where she received international acclaim for her role as Cherubino in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro. In 2024, she was chosen to perform the French national anthem, La Marseillaise, at the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy .