The Beth Custer Ensemble - CD Release October 19, 2009

A woman for all seasons, hers is a big musical personality — versatile, adaptable, and very individual. – John L. Walters, London Guardian

BETH CUSTER is a San Francisco based composer, performer, bandleader, clarinet teacher, and the proprietor of BC Records.

Beth is a founding member of the notorious silent film soundtrack purveyors the Club Foot Orchestra, 4th world ambient ensemble Trance Mission, the quintet of esteemed clarinetists Clarinet Thing, the trip-hop duo Eighty Mile Beach, and the Latin-jazz-rock influenced Doña Luz 30 Besos. She now leads The Beth Custer Ensemble.

She composes for film, television, installations and the concert stage. Recent commissions include A Trip Down Market Street 1905/2005, a live outdoor cinema event by Melinda Stone produced by the Exploratorium; The Ballad of Pancho & Lucy musical for Campo Santo Theatre; and Bernal Heights Suite for the Left Coast Chamber Ensemble.

Recent awards include a Meet The Composer New Residency grant; two residencies at the Marin Headlands Art Center; a Phyllis Wattis Residency at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts; a Mcknight Fellowship; two San Francisco Arts Commission Individual Artist grants; a Gerbode Award; an Argosy Foundation recording grant; and an Aaron Copland Recording fund award.