Composer, flutist, and improviser Rachel Beetz presents a new work titled Unofficial — a result of a prolonged period of solo extended technique improvisations on her acoustic flute, augmented by electoacoustic processing. She writes that Unofficial “is an attempt at opening up and searching for a musical expression underneath my official, public identity.” Sally Decker is a composer, performer, and writer based in Oakland, working with nonlinear feedback systems and text. Her work explores the subtle emotional body and sound as a vessel for practicing presence. Her latest release on NNA Tapes, In the Tender Dream, came out in 2021.

Rachel Beetz

Composer, flutist, and improviser, Rachel Beetz explores presence through sound and listening. Her works recreate physical atmospheres based on her deep listening adventures in the wild, exploring hidden worlds of nature and machines. Combining experimental field recordings and electronically modified flutes, her works examine community, environmentalism, and women’s work through sound, textiles, and lighting. Her projects have been featured in concert halls and galleries in Australia, Iceland, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Rachel’s flute playing evokes the “roar of prehistoric animals” (San Diego Union Tribune). Her performance career champions collaboration with living composers. You can hear her play on Blue Griffin, iikki, Neuma, and Populist Records. She is Co-Director of the wasteLAnd Ensemble and Populist Records. Rachel plays with ensembles who share her mission such as Callithumpian Consort, Echoi, International Contemporary Ensemble, Noise, Southland, and Third Coast Percussion. Rachel has appeared at festivals such as the Festival Internacional Cervantino, Vértice, Prisms, American Music Festival, New Music Gathering, XI Festival Internacional de Música Nueva, WithOut Walls, unSUNG, Ojai, Jacaranda, and Monday Evening Concerts. She is currently on faculty at the Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice (SICPP) at New England Conservatory and is Adjunct Instructor at Moorpark College.

Sally Decker

Sally Decker is a composer, performer, and writer based in Oakland, CA. Her work explores the subtle emotional body and sound as a vessel for practicing presence. Her approach to form and process is psychological and sensory, rooted in the intent of strengthening a reflective focus toward our internal intuitive worlds. Recent interests include feedback systems, the voice, and utilization of language in performance. She received her MFA in 2019 in Electronic Music & Recording Media from Mills College, where she studied with Laetitia Sonami, Maggi Payne, James Fei, Zeena Parkins, John Bischoff, and Fred Frith.