Two acclaimed classical artists will perform together as part of the Swaledale Festival on July 15.
The Australian mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean and Scottish/Japanese guitarist Sean Shibe will perform duets by Dowland, Schubert, Britten and Debussy in two performances at St Andrew’s Church in Grinton.
Both performers have received a string of awards in recent years.
Lotte, who is the daughter of the world-renowned composer and violist Brett Dean, won the 2019 Oxford Lieder Young Artist Award, the 2017 Peter Hulsen Orchestral Song Award, the inaugural 2018 Musician’s Company New Elizabethan Award, the 2020 Overseas Prize and the 2020 Audrey Strange Memorial Prize for an outstanding singer at the Royal Over-Seas League Competition.
Lotte is a yeoman of the Musicians’ Company and the company has supported the Swaledale concerts.
Sean was the first guitarist to be selected for the BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme, and the first guitarist to receive the Royal Philharmonic Society Award for Young Artists.
He was awarded a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, and a Gramophone Award for his recording softLOUD. Further awards include the Royal Over-Seas League First Prize and Gold Medal (2011), the Ivor Mairants Guitar Award (2009), and a Dewar Arts and D’Addarrio endorsement.
Swaledale Festival’s artistic director, Malcolm Creese, said: “After so many months with almost no live music, it will be thrilling to welcome these two young stars to Grinton Church, and to hear their intimate programme in such a wonderful acoustic.”
The shows will last 60 minutes, starting at 4pm and 7.30pm on Thursday, July 15 in St Andrew’s Church in Grinton. Audiences will be socially-distanced and face coverings will be required.
Tickets are £12 for adults and just £3 for under 25s, available at www.swalefest.org
