KIN - Lotte Betts-Dean and Joseph Havlat

Folksong reimagined across generations, borders, and eras.

After forging a close musical bond in contemporary repertoire, Lotte Betts-Dean and Joseph Havlat turn to a tradition that is anything but fixed. KIN explores folksong as a living, evolving art, melodies and stories passed between generations, reshaped by memory, place, and imagination.

Alongside now classic arrangements by Britten, Bartók and Grainger and rarities by E.J. Moeran and Doreen Senior, new commissions from Josephine Stephenson, Isabella Gellis and Louise Drewett bring fresh perspectives to this shared inheritance. Rooted in the duo’s own sense of cultural identity, at once Australian, European, and diasporic, this is a programme that moves fluidly across borders and eras, held together by an instinctive, finely balanced partnership.

Tickets

Standard $45 ($40 Concession)

Please note, seating in the Primrose Potter Salon is General Admission.

A Transaction Fee between $4 and $8.50 applies to orders made online and by phone. Delivery Fees may also apply. A ticket limit of six is in place online to ensure fair ticket access for all. Want to bring a bigger party? Call our Box Office during business hours on (03) 9699 3333 to book.

Artists

Lotte Betts-Dean mezzo-soprano
Joseph Havlat piano

About the Artists

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.

Joseph Havlat is an Australian pianist and composer from Hobart, who is based in London. He works frequently as a soloist, having given recitals at Wigmore Hall, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and King’s Place, and as a chamber musician, having performed with artists such as James Ehnes and Steven Isserlis. He has released CDs on the LSO Live label (the premiere recording of John Adams’ two-piano work ‘Roll Over Beethoven’), Métier (music by Michael Finnissy) and Delphian Records (Schubert violin and piano works) amongst others. Passionate about modern and contemporary music, he has collaborated with such composers as Thomas Adès, Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Gerald Barry and Hans Abrahamsen. As a composer, his music often explores the sounds of the natural world, imbued with the harsher shapes of human modernity. He has written music spanning from solo voice to large ensemble, including for his own Ensemble x.y, of which he was a founding member.