Lotte Betts-Dean’s voice, Bram de Looze’s piano, and Roland Peelman’s final year at Canberra International Music Festival

Andrew is at the Canberra International Music Festival, where we get to catch up with an Australian who lives in the UK, a Belgian who tours the world, and another Belgian who lives in Australia.

Lotte Betts-Dean, Aussie mezzo-soprano now based in London, makes a trip home to perform a series of form-expanding vocal works from composers like Michael Finnissy, one of the masters of so-called "new complexity". 

Belgian jazz pianist Bram de Looze invites The Music Show into the Belgian Embassy where he's staying with the two resident llamas to talk about where improvisation and composition meet for him, and what he's taken from jazz idols like Hank Jones, Keith Jarrett and Thelonious Monk. 

And CIMF Artistic Director Roland Peelman looks back on his ten years leading the festival, the joys and tribulations of wearing multiple hats, and the particular way the city of Canberra has shaped the festival. 

Look out for Bram De Looze on ABC Jazz’s Jazztrack Live in June.

Music heard in the show:

Title: Spotting GatewaysArtist: Bram de LoozeLive in Canberra – courtesy of ABC Jazz

Title: Blessed Be IArtist: Lotte Betts-Dean, Marsyas TrioComposer: Michael FinnissyAlbum: Alternative ReadingsLabel: Divine Art MEX77102

Title: Botany BayArtist: Lotte Betts-Dean, Marsyas TrioComposer: Michael FinnissyAlbum: Alternative ReadingsLabel: Divine Art MEX77102

Title: parallaxis formaArtist: Lotte Betts Dean, Explore EnsembleComposer: Catherine LambAlbum: 3 Compositions for Voices and EnsembleLabel: Another Timbre at-215CD

Title: BowArtist: Bram De LoozeComposer: Bram De LoozeAlbum: Spotting GatewaysLabel: Independent release

Title: Monk’s MoodArtist: Bram De Looze, Joey Baron, Robin VerheyenComposer: Thelonious MonkAlbum: MiXMONKLabel: UCJ

Technical production by Simon BranthwaiteRecorded on Ngunnawal and Ngambri Country, produced on Gadigal and Gundungurra Country.