Press

Beth Custer photo

Bio / Resume

Beth Custer is an Emmy Award winning, San Francisco based composer, performer, recording artist, bandleader, and the proprietor of BC Records. She has numerous recordings out with ensembles The Beth Custer Ensemble, Eighty Mile Beach, Clarinet Thing, Trance Mission and Club Foot Orchestra. She performs Bb, alto, bass, contrabass clarinets, flute, tenor sax, voice, piano, percussion, and toys.

Beth has composed for the contemporary chamber ensembles Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, Zeitgeist, Earplay, Turtle Island and Kronos String Quartets; for the theatre productions of Campo Santo Theatre, Berkeley and San Diego Repertory Theatres, Magic Theatre, California Shakespeare, Overtone Industries, and Cornerstone Theatre; for the dance troupes AXIS Dance Company, Joe Goode Performance Group, ROCO Dance, Flyaway Productions, Ledoh, Harupin Ha, and Osseus Labyrinth; for the films of William Farley, Judith Ehrlich, Brad Coley, Cathy Lee Crane, Melinda Stone, George Spies, Koohan Paik, KQED’s Independent View and Deep Look, and for the silent films of Club Foot Orchestra including for a season of CBS/Film Roman’s Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat.

Beth created four musicals with writer Octavio Solis produced by Campo Santo Theatre and Overtone Industries. Her collaborative scores with inventor and MacArthur Fellow Trimpin led her to compose Vinculum Symphony, a site-specific, large-scale work that unites chamber musicians with experimental instrument builders.

Her numerous awards include artist residencies at Blue Mountain Center, Montalvo Arts Center, Civitella Ranieri Center, Headlands Center for the Arts, and Wild Acres. Other awards include a McKnight Fellowship in Minneapolis, University of Wyoming residency, Meet The Composer New Residency award, American Composers Forum Commissioning grants, San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist grants, Zellerbach Family Fund awards, Gerbode award, Argosy Foundation recording grant, and an Aaron Copland Recording Fund award for her silent film score My Grandmother.

Print Reviews

Photos (high resolution)

Beth Custer Beth Custer credit: Federico Cusigch Beth Custer credit: Federico Cusigch
Beth Custer credit: Federico Cusigch Beth Custer credit: Claudia Gianvenuti for the Civitella Ranieri Foundation Beth Custer credit: Claudia Gianvenuti for the Civitella Ranieri Foundation
Beth Custer credit: Anne Hamersky Beth Custer credit: Anne Hamersky Beth Custer credit: Alexander Bailey
Beth Custer credit: Anne Hamersky Beth Custer credit: Federico Cusigch Beth Custer (low res) credit: Chris Grady
The Beth Custer Ensemble credit: Federico Cusigch The Beth Custer Ensemble credit: Federico Cusigch The Beth Custer Ensemble credit: Anne Hamersky
The Beth Custer Ensemble credit: Anne Hamersky The Beth Custer Ensemble credit: Anne Hamersky The Beth Custer Ensemble credit: Anne Hamersky
Trance Mission Duo credit: Anne Hamersky Trance Mission Duo credit: Anne Hamersky Trance Mission Duo credit: Anne Hamersky
Trance Mission Trio credit: Anne Hamersky Trance Mission Trio credit: Anne Hamersky Trance Mission Trio credit: Anne Hamersky
Trance Mission Trio credit: Anne Hamersky Trance Mission Trio credit: Anne Hamersky Trance Mission Trio credit: Chen-Wei Liu
Trance Mission credit: Anne Hamersky Clarinet Thingcredit: Federico Cusigch Clarinet Thing credit: Anne Hamersky
Clarinet Thing credit: Federico Cusigch Clarinet Thing credit: Federico Cusigch

My Grandmother: stills and posters

My Grandmother event poster w/ blank space for venue info PDF, color, 11×17″ My Grandmother event poster, B&W, w/ blank space for venue info PDF, b/w, 11×17″ My Grandmother event poster film WITHOUT live band, w/ blank space for venue info PDF, b/w, 8.5×11″
My Grandmother still #1 My Grandmother still #2