Beth Custer

Beth Custer is a composer for television, film, dance, and theater. She performs and records with many ensembles playing Bb, alto, and bass clarinets, voice, keyboards, flutes, sax, trumpet, and an assortment of toys and midi controlled inventions. She was raised in Fredonia, New York. She received her bachelors degree in music performance from S.U.N.Y. Potsdam. Beth went on to do her masters work at the University of Michigan. After touring the California coast by bicycle she found the West coast so beautiful that she decided to move out west and settle in San Francisco. Beth completed her graduate work in performance at San Francisco State University. She currently resides in San Francisco where she composes and performs both solo and in a few groups.

Beth started her career as a freelance composer in 1984 when she began writing for a group she was involved with at the time called Club Foot Orchestra. With that group Beth composed music for the silent films Metropolis, Sherlock Jr., and Pandoras's Box . More recently Beth composed music for The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat, a TV program for CBS. In the 13 years Beth has been composing, she has written works for several films, TV, dance, and theater. She worked with a filmaker named Camera Obscura to write the soundtrack for the first Camera Obscura film, New Freedom, the first place winner at the 1994 Berlin Film Festival. Recently she has composed for such films as Not For Nuthin directed by Cathy Crane, and We Cant All Have Come From That Island in Greece directed by Lidia Szajiko. In her most recent work for dance, Beth composed for the Joe Goode Performance Group on The Maverick Strain.

Currently, Beth is involved with two main groups, Trance Mission, and her newest project, eighty mile beach. In the band Trance Mission, Beth plays at Bay Area venues as well as in Europe. She says some of the best audiences with the most diverse mix of listeners she has performed for were in Europe. In Trance Mission, Beth plays a variety of clarinets and collaborates with Stephen Kent playing didgeridoos, Peter Valsamis- drums, Eda Maxym- voice, and Kenneth Newby- winds and digital atmospheres. The music is an incredible mix of all kinds of percussive, electronic, and acoustical instrument sounds. Beth enjoys some ambient electronic music, but found when she was composing for the Joe Goode Performance Group (a dance group), that the mix of sampler/ sequencer and live acoustic instruments worked well. This mix is evident throughout most of Beth's music. eighty mile beach is what Beth calls a kind of pop band. Since Beth is most inspired to compose by nature, the track There are No Right Angles Found in Nature (sound link) seems to reflect Beth's down- to- earth style.

Beth also performs solo quite often. She was groomed for orchestra in her training as a clarinetist, but has always enjoyed new sounds and has aspired to perform them. She loves improvisation! Beth was inspired into music early on in her life by her father and her aunt who were fine pianists. She feels she was always encouraged to play music which has made her love what she does today. Beth is devoted to her music. She defines success as keeping yourself interested in life rather than just making ends meet. Beth admits that sometimes living as an artist can be difficult, but she considers herself successful and is fulfilled with her music.

Beths has several goals for herself in the near future which include completing her two artist residencies at the Marin Headlands and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, writing more for film (her true love!) and travel to Asia. When asked if she considered her music womens music Beth replied, "I'm making music that speaks from my heart and Im a woman, so I guess I make womens music...I would love to play the womens music festival... I'm not a separatist...hopefully, my music is for everyone."

Last Updated: 2/3/06