Our concert on July 27 will have you feeling classy! Mason City native Michael Betz, now living in Minneapolis working as a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, will be entertaining the taproom on his piano with a mix of jazz standards, original jazz compositions, and free improvisation. Michael has studied and worked in music for years and loves to bring his talents back to his hometown!
Please join us for this cozy afternoon show! No admission fee.
More info on Michael:
Michael Betz is a composer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist from Mason City, IA, currently living in Minneapolis, MN. His compositions are not limited to the concert stage and have appeared in a variety of media, including Android apps by developer Nathan Tornquist and the YouTube series Chadtronic. Comfortable in both the jazz and classical idioms, he maintains an active performance schedule as a solo and collaborative pianist in southern Minnesota and northern Iowa. Recent collaborators include soprano Sonja Tengblad and singer-songwriter Matt Alber. He also performs as a solo improvisational synthesizer player, and has played Minneapolis experimental music series such as Drone Not Drones, the Tourniquet Noise Series, and Khyber Pass Thursdays. Betz enjoyed a full 4 years as a percussionist in the St. Olaf Band and Orchestra, and currently sings bass with Magnum Chorum, Aliro Voices, and MPLS (imPulse). He teaches beginning piano, violin, and guitar lessons through the Minnetonka Music Academy.
Betz is a recipient of the 2017 Jerome Foundation for New Music grant and is Composer-in-Residence for Magnum Chorum’s 2017-2018 concert season. His orchestra work Enclosure was awarded Honorable Mention in the 2017 Minnesota Orchestra Composer Institute. Three of his chamber works have received finalist designation in the ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Awards. He has also received recognition in calls for scores from the Solo and Chamber Timpanist’s Initiative and Symphony Number One. In August 2015, he participated in the Source Song Festival, where he workshopped his song cycle Indra’s Ear with Libby Larsen. Indra’s Ear received further performances by RenegadeEnsemble at Antonello Recital Hall, Studio Z, the Baroque Room, and the Schubert Club Courtroom Concert Series in the Twin Cities.