Xavier Beteta
guatemala
“Noche Profunda” (Deep Night) was composed in 2020 and will be premiered in the winter of 2021. It is connected to Beethoven’s Sonata no. 5 in c minor, Op. 10 no. 1.
The piece is dedicated to the indigenous victims of the Ixil area during the Guatemalan Civil War
Composer Xavier Beteta was born in Guatemala City. He did most of his studies with composer Rodrigo Asturias. In 2013 he won the Silver Medal at the fourth International Antonin Dvorak Composition Competition in Prague. Xavier studied music theory at the University of Cincinnati where his thesis about the music of Rodrigo Asturias was ranked no. 4 in the National Best-Seller Dissertation List. He holds a Ph.D. in composition from the University of California San Diego with Roger Reynolds.
His compositions have been performed in diverse festivals such as Festival Musica in Strasbourg, France, Darmstadt Composition Summer Courses in Germany, June in Buffalo, SICPP in Boston, Opera Theater Festival of Lucca, Italy and by ensembles such as Accroche Note, Ensemble SoundScape, Ensemble Signal, UCSD Palimpsest, the Mivos Quartet, Tana Quartet, Formosa Quartet, and The San Francisco Contemporary Music Players.
Xavier Beteta is also an accomplished pianist. He studied piano at the National Conservatory of Guatemala with Consuelo Medinilla. At age 18, he was awarded the first-prize at the Augusto Ardenois National Piano Competition and third-prize at the Rafael Alvarez Ovalle Composition Competition in Guatemala. He continued his piano studies in the United States with Argentinean pianist Sylvia Kersenbaum and with Russian pianist Sergei Polusmiak. Xavier has performed in different venues in the United States, Europe and Latin America and has been a soloist with the Guatemalan National Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Augusto Ardenois, and the Camellia Symphony in Sacramento.
Xavier also holds a law degree from Salmon P. Chase College of Law and his diverse interests include art law, copyright, poetry, and tango. He is currently an Assistant Professor of Music Theory and Composition at Wheaton College in the US.