Of Georgian/Russian and Greek/Austrian parentage, British composer Lydia Kakabadse has a number of music theatre, vocal, choral and chamber works to her credit. The Arabian Rhapsody Suite for string quartet is characterized by vibrant rhythms and melodies of the Middle East while Russian Tableaux, also for string quartet, is a bitter-sweet tribute to the landscape, history and culture of Russia. Set to texts by the 19th-century poet Thomas Hood, The Song of the Shirt tells the story of the pitiful existence of a poor seamstress. The Mermaid is based on the composer’s own fairy tale and the haunting musical drama The Phantom Listeners was inspired by Walter de la Mare’s poetry.