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Beth Ratay
Beth Ratay is a skilled composer who is able to craft music using a wide variety of styles and techniques. From music possessed of a quiet, understated grace, to music that plays joyfully with mathematical concepts, to laugh out loud operatic fun, Dr. Ratay's music is engaging, charming and beautiful.
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Biography
As a composer, Beth has had works performed around the world, by ensembles such as Earplay, West Edge Opera, Third Millennium Ensemble, The Boston New Music Initiative, Boston Opera Collaborative, Coalescence Percussion Duo, Alter Ego Chamber Opera, the Cambridge Chamber Singers, the Phoenix Symphony Chorus, Ninth Planet, and The Hartford Opera Theater, and conductors such as Mary Chun, Tian Hui Ng, Gregory Gentry, Allan McMurray, Grant Linsell, Nathaniel Berman and Camille Chitwood. Her works have been featured at the Oregon Bach Festival Composer’s Forum, the April in Santa Cruz Contemporary Music Festival, the Women Composer’s Festival of Hartford and the Society of Composers, Inc National Conference.
Dr. Ratay received her Doctor of Musical Arts in World Music Composition from the University of California, Santa Cruz, her Master of Music in Music Composition from Arizona State University, and her Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her musical research has focused on the music of Harrison Birtwistle as well as text setting, poetic interpretation and the relationship of language to music, especially in Czech, German and English. She has studied with composers David Evan Jones, Paul Nauert, James DeMars, and Michael Theodore.
Beth is also active as a performer. She was the principal flutist for the University of California, Santa Cruz Orchestra and also performed for the April in Santa Cruz New Music Festival for three consecutive years. In the past, she has been a member of the Cambridge Chamber Singers, the Back Bay Chorale, the Phoenix Symphony Chorus and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Beth is currently the Artistic Director for the Boston New Music Initiative.
Dr. Ratay also enjoys teaching, and has taught courses at Bunker Hill Community College, Roxbury Community College, Hartnell College, Gavilan College, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Beth currently lives with her amazing family including one husband, two sons, and one cat in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Dr. Ratay received her Doctor of Musical Arts in World Music Composition from the University of California, Santa Cruz, her Master of Music in Music Composition from Arizona State University, and her Bachelor of Music in Music Composition from the University of Colorado, Boulder. Her musical research has focused on the music of Harrison Birtwistle as well as text setting, poetic interpretation and the relationship of language to music, especially in Czech, German and English. She has studied with composers David Evan Jones, Paul Nauert, James DeMars, and Michael Theodore.
Beth is also active as a performer. She was the principal flutist for the University of California, Santa Cruz Orchestra and also performed for the April in Santa Cruz New Music Festival for three consecutive years. In the past, she has been a member of the Cambridge Chamber Singers, the Back Bay Chorale, the Phoenix Symphony Chorus and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. Beth is currently the Artistic Director for the Boston New Music Initiative.
Dr. Ratay also enjoys teaching, and has taught courses at Bunker Hill Community College, Roxbury Community College, Hartnell College, Gavilan College, and the University of California, Santa Cruz. Beth currently lives with her amazing family including one husband, two sons, and one cat in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
