Praised by The Guardian for her “irrepressible sense of drama and unmissable, urgent musicality”, Australian mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean is passionate about curation and programming, with a broad repertoire that encompasses contemporary music, art song, chamber music, early music, opera, oratorio and non-classical collaborations. Lotte is an Ambassador of Donne, a charitable foundation dedicated to promoting gender equality in the music industry, and in 2022 she was named as an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, an honour reserved for alumni who have contributed significantly to the music industry.
Lotte has established herself as a leading interpreter of new music, having given the world premieres of over 30 works and performed at many of the major festivals and venues around the UK, in Australia and internationally. Performance highlights include her debut with Melbourne Symphony Orchestra and Sir Andrew Davis in Stravinsky Perséphone, Dean Hamlet (State Opera of South Australia) Pirates of Penzance (Opera Holland Park) and Pierrot Lunaire (Manchester Collective), a work she repeats this year in Köln and Brisbane. Recent 21-22 music festival appearances include Festival Musica Sacra Maastricht, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Aldeburgh, Swaledale, Llandeilo and Petworth Festivals, Britten Pears Festival of New, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Festival Llums D’Antiga Barcelona, and the Australian Festival of Chamber Music.
Recent operatic work includes her Spanish debut in Dido and Aeneas (Sorceress) for International Bach Festival Gran Canaria and Theodora (Irene) at Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, and the 22-23 season saw her Swiss debut at Grand Théâtre de Genève in Shlomowitz’ Electric Dreams and at Kings Place with Explore Ensemble. Future plans include a Wigmore Hall recital with Armida Quartet, Gwyl Machynlleth Festival, Linos Festival, Oxford Song, and her debut at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Weinberg’s Die Passagierin (Vlasta).
Lotte has also performed at UK venues including St John’s Smith Square, St Martin in the Fields, Wigmore Hall, Cadogan Hall, Conway Hall, Wiltshire Music Centre, The Wallace Collection, Handel & Hendrix House, St James’ Palace and Colston Hall Bristol, and other festival appearances include Buxton International Festival, Cheltenham Festival, Barbican Centre Sound Unbound, Glasgow Cathedral Festival, Hatfield House Chamber Music Festival, Lewes Festival of Song, Two Moors Festival, Norfolk & Norwich Festival, Gower Festival, Dartington Festival and Tête-à-Tête Opera.
Lotte will be taking the place of Dorothea Herbert, who due to other commitments is no longer able to join us.
