Explaining the unexplainable: a seductive & magical album from Lotte Betts-Dean, Dimitris Soukaras, everything you've ever lived on Delphian

everything you've ever lived: Baden Powell, Ravel, Seiber, de Falla, Richard Rodgers, Burt Bacharach, My Brightest Diamond, Vincente Asencio, Debussy, Sinead O'Connor, Caroline Polachek, Britten, Asik Veysel, Jorge Cardoso, Paurillo Barroso, Armando Soares; Lotte Betts-Dean, Dimitris Soukaras; Delphian Records
Reviewed 1 October 2025

A mysterious and seductive recital from a voice and guitar duo that moves smoothly and hauntingly through countries, eras and styles to create a little bit of magic

There is a phrase in Megan Stellar's rather flowery booklet note for mezzo-soprano Lotte Betts-Dean's latest disc which helps to elucidate the rather elusive nature of the programme. "That melange of ambiguity and subconscious understanding lifts alongside Lotte and Dimitris's interest in harmonic connection and the subtle stories that can be told...". 

For the disc, everything you've ever lived on Delphian Records, Lotte Betts-Dean is joined by guitarist Dimitris Soukaras for a recital which moves effortlessly and nearly seamlessly through Baden Powell, Ravel, Seiber, de Falla, Richard Rodgers, Burt Bacharach, My Brightest Diamond, Vincente Asencio, Debussy, Sinead O'Connor, Caroline Polachek, Britten, Asik Veysel, Jorge Cardoso, Paurillo Barroso and Armando Soares.

The album is described as 'exploring ideas of nostalgia, childhood memory and the state between waking and sleep'. Which covers a remarkable amount of ground. What is distinctive for me is not so much the subject matter of the songs as the way one flows into another with hardly a ripple. 

This is not so much a recital of songs as a sequence, lasting just over an hour, that flows smoothly and seductively. And make no bones about it, Betts-Dean's voice, no matter the subject she is singing about, is wonderfully seductive and beautifully smooth and partnered by Soukaras' stunning guitar playing. That at least ten of the tracks on the disc are his own arrangements must be to his credit in creating the sense of coherence and flow.

everything you've ever lived - Lotte Betts-Dean & Dimitris Soukaras - Delphian Records
(Photo: foxbrushfilms.com)

The London Opera Company to perform Götterdämmerung this October

Following sold out and critically acclaimed performances of Tristan und Isolde, Die Walküre [see my review] and Siegfried [see Tony's review], the London Opera Company (LOC) returns to Sinfonia Smith Square (formerly St John’s Smith Square) on Sunday 19 October with a full orchestra for its most ambitious concert yet - Götterdämmerung

The production features a cast of seasoned professionals including Katie Lowe, who made her Royal Opera House (ROH) debut in Die Walküre earlier this year, and Philippa Boyle, who returns as Gutrune following a wonderful Sieglinde for the London Opera Company in 2023. Philippa also performed for the first time at ROH in their award-winning Festen. Harriet Williams sings Waltraute. Neal Cooper takes on the role of Siegfried (currently singing Thibault at ROH) and Cara Mchardy following her excellent reviews for Siegfried and Die Walkūre with LOC continues her role as Brünnhilde.

They are joined by voices fresh to Wagner and an orchestra with a core of professionals playing alongside the best post-graduates from London’s top music colleges. LOC Orchestral Bursary offers a yearly prize and paid opportunity for a talented musician nurturing young talent.

Peter Selwyn conducts the orchestra. This follows his recent success with Opera Holland Park’s Der Fliegende Holländer [see my review], and see my 2022 interview with Peter Selwyn, 'From Bayreuth to Grimeborn'.

The Wagner Tubas and Stierhorn, kindly loaned by the Royal Opera House, will, as with the Company’s much celebrated production of Die Walküre, bring a special grandeur to the performance. 

Further details from Sinfonia Smith Square's website.

Clarinet & strings: Coleridge-Taylor & a new Jago Thornton piece in the Sacconi Quartet's Sunday concert at Conway Hall with David Campbell

Jago Thornton

Jago Thornton, Shostakovich, Coleridge-Taylor; Sacconi Quartet, David Campbell; Conway Hall Sunday Concerts
Reviewed 28 September 2025

Coleridge-Taylor's early masterwork paired with a new piece for clarinet and strings by Jago Thornton, commissioned as a pairing and inspired by the cityscape known to both composers.

The Sunday concert at Conway Hall on 28 September 2025 featured the Sacconi Quartet (Ben Hancox, Hannah Dawson, Robin Ashell, Cara Berridge) and clarinettist David Campbell in programme that culminated in Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's Clarinet Quintet in F sharp minor and began with the premiere of Jago Thornton's Study in Submersion for clarinet and string quartet, commissioned as a partner for Coleridge-Taylor's quintet. Between the two, the quartet played Shostakovich's highly personal String Quartet in C sharp minor Op. 110. Before the concert, I gave a preconcert talk looking at Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's early life and training with background to the creation of his quintet and his best known work, Hiawatha.

Named for outstanding twentieth-century Italian luthier and restorer Simone Sacconi, the Sacconi Quartet celebrate they 25th anniversary next year, and still feature the original line up. The four players first got together whilst studying at the Royal College of Music.