Abbie betinis biography samples

  • Originally from Wisconsin, Abbie is a graduate of St. Olaf College (B.A.), the University of Minnesota (M.A.), and holds a diplôme from the European American.
  • Carol of the Stranger for SATB choir, a cappella (2:45 min) · Nattsanger (Nightsongs) — a song.
  • Another powerful force in the choral community that has had influence on Abbie Betinis is Dale Warland.

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    Composer Spotlight

    In this section we highlight the composers behind our music.

    • Amy Beach

      Mrs. H.H.A. Beach (1867-1944) Considered to be one of the first great kvinnlig composers in the US, Amy Marcy Cheney was born in Henniker, NH. She was a musical prodigy with perfect pitch. She studied piano, and became fluent in German and French. Beach began a concert career as a pianist and received excellent reviews. At age 18, she was a soloist with the Boston Symphony. Despite her success and promising career, she chose to retire from performance when she married Dr. Henry Harris Aubrey Beach in December of 1885, who encouraged her to compose instead of perform. She trained as a composer by studying the masters. She had many successes in large-scale genres, including the Boston Symphony’s performance of her Gaelic Symphony in 1896. After the deaths of her husband and mother, she undertook a concert tour of Germany, where many major European singers performed her songs. When Bea

    • abbie betinis biography samples

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      Carrying on a Family Tradition of Carol Writing

      How wonderful to be born into such a rich family tradition. What motivated you to pick up the mantle and compose your own carols?

      I come from a family that loves to sing. On Christmas Eve, we sing carols around the crèche, and each person requests a carol. I knew that we were singing Uncle Al’s carols because I would look up at my grandpa’s face and his eyes would water whenever his little brother’s carols were sung. Being four years old, and knowing that someone who wasn’t in the room had moved them was a big realization for me. I don’t know that I aspired to be a composer at that young age, but I knew it was a powerful thing that composers could do. I started writing little songs myself around that age, and I guess just haven’t stopped!

      Tell us what you know of the Burt family’s carol writing tradition.

      My great-grandfather Bates Burt was a self-taught musician – a minister – and he really loved poetry. In 1922, he decided to w

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      BIOGRAPHY

      “inventive, richly melodic”(The New York Times)

      “the highlight... pushes forward a brooding, dissonant unease”
      (Boston Globe)

      “extraordinary music by a greatly gifted young composer”
      (Chicago Classical Review)

      Composer Abbie Betinis writes music called “inventive” (The New York Times), “joyful… shattering, incandescent” (Boston Globe), and music that “expands into ethereal realms” (Cambridge University Press). She has been honored to attend performances of her music from Carnegie Hall to Disney Hall, school assemblies to wedding ceremonies, state prisons to capitol buildings, summer camps to the finest international cathedrals. In 2018, her music was performed on four continents, totaling over 500 performances.

      Working largely by commission, Abbie has composed new music for world-class organizations, including the American Choral Directors Association, American Suzuki Foundation, Cantus, Chorus Pro Musica, The Dale Warland Singers, Flying Forms Baro