As a flutist, Rachel Beetz plays “elegantly” (Washington Post) while “evoking the roar of prehistoric animals” (San Diego Union Tribune). She performs music by living composers and works from the last century. She gave premieres of operas by Laure Hiendl, Ellen Reid, and Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs in addition to chamber works by Richard Barrett, Liza Lim, Alvin Lucier, Celeste Oram, Yvonne Wu, and Kimia Koochakzadeh Yazdi. Beetz performs with ensembles who share her values such as International Contemporary Ensemble, Third Coast Percussion, Bozzini Quartet, Wild Up, the Martha Graham Dance Company, and Wasteland Music. She holds a doctorate in Contemporary Performance Practice from the UC San Diego. Yes, you can call her Dr. Beetz, it is her real name. 

As a composer and sound artist, Beetz explores presence through sound and listening. Her works recreate physical atmospheres based on her deep listening adventures in the wild, exploring hidden worlds of nature and machines. Combining experimental field recordings and electronically modified flutes, her works examine community, environmentalism, and women’s work through sound, textiles, and lighting. Beetz’s sound projects have taken her from a sunless winter fjord to the mountains of Southern California, and to empty grain bins of the American Midwest. Her projects have been featured in concert halls and galleries in Australia, Iceland, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States. You can find her music on Orenda and Populist records in addition to her independent artist bandcamp website.