As a composer and sound artist, Beetz considers sound as touch and is particularly influenced by natural and mechanical environments, the life of objects, interpersonal collaboration, and deep listening. 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. She held residencies in art houses in rural Iceland, the Women’s Center for Creative Work in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Los Feliz Charter School for the Arts in Los Angeles, the Atlantic Center for the Arts in Florida, and the Walden Creative Musicians retreat. 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 compositions and electronic music on Orenda and Populist records in addition to her independent artist bandcamp website.
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 premiered over 75 works in the last 15 years, including 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.
Beetz has appeared at festivals such as the Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Dark Music Days (Iceland), Time of Music (Finland), American Music Festival (Washington, D.C.), and the Ojai Music Festival (California), and given performances at the Walt Disney Concert Hall, Red Cat Theatre, the Los Angeles Contemporary Museum of Art, and the Soraya in Los Angeles, the Integratron in Joshua Tree, Weill Hall in New York City, Harpa Concert Hall in Reykjavik, Iceland, while connecting with the listeners and communities venues of the Red Room in Baltimore, Rhizome in Washington, D.C., Indexical in Santa Cruz, the West Oakland Sound Series, Solarc Brewery in Los Angeles, and Mengi in Reykjavik. She finds inspiration from her collaborations with artists Jennifer Bewerse, April Dawn Guthrie, Jacqueline Kerroud, Alma Laprida, Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs, Vicky Ray, Nichole Speciale, and Berglind Maria Tómasdóttir. You can hear her performances on Orenda, Blue Griffin, iikki, Neuma, in addition Populist records where she is a co-director alongside Andrew McIntosh and Andrew Tholl.
As an academic, Beetz has been in residence, given courses and guest lectures at institutions such as Arizona State University, California Institute of the Arts, Colburn School, Iceland University for the Arts, New England Conservatory, Pomona College, Santa Clara University, Stanford University, University of California Los Angeles, and University of California Santa Cruz. She holds a doctorate in Contemporary Performance Practice from the University of California San Diego. She currently labors as the Student Learning Outcomes Coordinator for Moorpark College.