Lotte Betts-Dean is an Australian mezzo soprano based in the UK with a wide ranging repertoire and a passion for curation and programming. Praised by The Guardian for her “irrepressible sense of drama and unmissable, urgent musicality”, Lotte is equally at home in chamber music, art song, early music, opera and narration, with a particular focus on new music, having premiered over 30 works. Lotte was elected as Associate (ARAM) of the Royal Academy of Music in 2022, after completing an MA with Distinction in 2016. She previously completed a BMus at Melbourne University Conservatorium.
Recent operatic engagements include Shlomowitz Electric Dreams (Grand Théâtre de Geneve/Ensemble Contrechamps) Handel Theodora (Muziekgebouw Amsterdam) and Dean Hamlet (State Opera of South Australia/Adelaide Festival), and upcoming engagements include Weinberg Die Passagierin (Bayerische Staatsoper) and recitals at Wigmore Hall, Oxford Song, Kühlhaus Berlin and CentroCentro Madrid.
Lotte has appeared at festivals across the UK, Europe and Australia, including Aldeburgh, St Magnus, Cheltenham, Buxton, Leeds Lieder, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Musica Sacra Maastricht, Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Festival Musique en Ecrins, International Bach Festival Las Palmas, Australian Festival of Chamber Music and Dark Mofo.
Lotte was Associate Artist with Southbank Sinfonia and Ensemble x.y, and is a Young Artist alumnus of Britten Pears Arts (2022), City Music Foundation (2017) Musicians Company (2018) and Oxford Lieder (2019). She is a regular collaborator with various chamber groups, including EXAUDI Vocal Ensemble, Explore Ensemble, Ligeti Quartet and Marsyas Trio. She is also a regular guest with the Choir of His Majesty’s Chapel Royal and has recorded several film and television soundtracks with London Voices. Awards include the 2020 ROSL Competition Overseas Prize, 2019 Oxford Lieder Young Artist Platform, the inaugural Musicians Company New Elizabethan Award (2018) and the 2017 Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Prize.
Lotte’s most recent album, a collaboration with Scottish composer Stuart MacRae, was released on Delphian Records this July. She has also recorded for Naxos, BIS, Tall Poppies and Ensemble Q Live.
Lotte is an Ambassador for Donne, a collective of artists supporting women in music.