St Mary’s Church, Hay-on-Wye, HR3 5EB. Doors open 6.30pm. Bar.

A much anticipated return of Lotte Betts-Dean with the Marsyas Trio: Helen Vidovich - flute/piccolo, Val Welbanks - cello and Chad Vindin - piano and joined on this occasion by Raymond Brien - clarinet/bass clarinet and Patrick Dawkins - violin/viola/piano.

Tickets: £20 (under 25s £10)

Please note:  we are offering a limited number of free tickets to under 25s on a first-come, first-served basis. 

Tickets are also available from the Hay Tourist Bureau until Thursday, 24 July and at the door if still available (cash or card).

Programme

Joseph Haydn:  Symphony No. 104 arr. Clementi for flute, violin, cello and piano

Claude Debussy:  Cello Sonata (cello and piano)

Claude Debussy:  ‘Colombine’, ‘Pierrot ‘and ‘Clair de lune’ (from Quatre Chansons de Jeunesse)

Marika Hackman:  Claude’s Girl

Arnold Schoenberg:  Pierrot Lunaire in version for mezzo-soprano, flute, clarinet, violin/viola, cello and piano

Lotte Betts-Dean is an Australian mezzo soprano based in the UK with a wide-ranging repertoire and a passion for curation, programming and collaborative project development. Praised for her “irrepressible sense of drama and unmissable, urgent musicality” (The Guardian) and “arrestingly opulent voice” (Gramophone), Lotte is equally at home in chamber music, art song, contemporary repertoire of all kinds, early music, opera and narration.

Lotte is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Music, an Ambassador for Donne UK - an organization supporting women in music - and she won Young Artist of the Year at the 2024 Royal Philharmonic Society Awards.  She is a regular at major festivals and venues across the UK, Australia and Europe, including Wigmore Hall, Kings Place, Aldeburgh Festival, Oxford Song, West Cork Chamber Music and Australian Festival of Chamber Music, and operatic credits in baroque, 20th century and contemporary opera include Grand Théâtre de Genève, Bayerische Staatsoper and State Opera of South Australia.

A Young Artist alumnus of Britten Pears Arts (2022), City Music Foundation (2019) and Oxford Lieder (2020) Lotte has recorded for Naxos, Divine Art Métier, Another Timbre, Platoon, BIS and Tall Poppies, among others, as well as multiple albums for Delphian Records.  She studied at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, as well as completing a Fellowship at Australian National Academy of Music.

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The London-based Marsyas Trio, formed of graduates of the Royal Academy of Music - Australian flautist Helen Vidovich, Canadian cellist Valerie Welbanks and Belarusian pianist Olga Stezhko (her place this evening being taken by Chad Vindin) - is one of the UK's foremost mixed chamber ensembles.

The Trio has been championing the vast body of historic repertoire for flute, cello and piano and continues to develop this genre through commissioning and recording projects, offering audiences a fascinating perspective on gender, societal and political themes.

Recent concert highlights include performances at Kettle’s Yard, Cambridge Festival, Conway Hall, Leeds Summer Festival, Britten-Pears Arts in Aldeburgh and a Northern tour, taking in two full-house concerts at Skipton Town Hall and the King’s Hall in Ilkley.  During the 2024/25 season the Trio has performed across the UK, including at the Three Choirs Festival, Howard Assembly Rooms in Leeds and for Hay Music when they were joined by the eminent composers Michael Finnissy and Dame Judith Weir.

Their latest album ‘Alternative Readings’ featuring music by Michael Finnissy was released on the Métier | Divine Art Recordings in March 2024, in collaboration with award-winning mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean.  The CD received rave reviews and was selected as the Chamber Choice by the BBC Music Magazine in a 5-star review.

The Marsyas Trio is the current Artist By-Fellows at Churchill College, University of Cambridge and FUAM (Friends of University Art and Music) Ensemble in Residence at the University of Leeds.

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Winner of the accompanist prize at the Royal Overseas League Competition, the Ludmilla Andrew Russian Song Accompanist Prize at the Royal Academy of Music and the Maureen Lehane Vocal Awards Accompanist’s Prize, Chad Vindin is one of the rising young stars of the accompaniment world. He is a vocal coach at the Royal Academy of Music and a staff pianist at the Royal College of Music, and he performs regularly across the UK and internationally.

Born in Australia, Chad first studied at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music before moving to London.  After studying with Malcolm Martineau and Michael Dussek at the Royal Academy of Music, Chad was awarded the position of Lord and Lady Lurgan Junior Fellow in Accompaniment at the Royal College of Music for two years.  He is a founding member of the Sydney Chamber Opera Company and performed with OperaUpClose in their Olivier Award-winning production of La Bohème.  As an avid orchestral musician he has performed with the Sydney Symphony Orchestra and the Sydney Sinfonia’s Education and Discovery Programs, and performed with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra at the Edinburgh International Festival.  As a chamber musician he has worked with ensembles including Manchester Collective and Magnard Ensemble.

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Raymond Brien is an award winning soloist, featured on disks by Tocca Classics, Another Timbre and Polytempo Records.  Recent BBC Radio 3 broadcasts include the BBC Total Immersion series and BCMG’s Sir Harrison Birtwistle feature broadcast. He regularly plays with ensembles such as Apartment House and Riot Ensemble, orchestras including BBC Symphony Orchestra and is artistic director of the Thinking Minds Project collective, specialising in interdisciplinary new-music projects featuring live music and visual art. 

Raymond was a Gillian-Freddie Martin Scholar during their studies at Guildhall School of Music and Drama graduating in 2020.  Raymond aims to continually promote new works for the clarinet which push boundaries and the clarinet’s abilities.

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Patrick Dawkins is second violinist with the Ligeti Quartet but is also an accomplished pianist and, in another life, a web developer.